This is interesting, and not really in a good way. Although the latest figures shown here (2011) are down from their peak about ten years earlier, they still show an increase in the average American’s diet of more than 750 calories every single day compared with the base number (1961). Comparing the 1961 average to the 2011 average represents almost 275,000 additional calories per person per year. In a word, yikes. This just might explain America’s obesity epidemic. And look at the growth in the consumption of sugar and fats. For comparison, Wikipedia says Japan’s average daily calorie intake stands at 2,800. (We chose them since obesity has traditionally been something of a rarity there.)
