With obesity rates over 20 percent in all but one US state, nutrition is, understandably, an often-discussed topic. The USDA even recently revamped its traditional "food pyramid" in an attempt to provide more modern nutritional standards for 21st-century Americans.
This WWII-era chart above, one of the many gems that appear in the National Archives' ongoing exhibition on government involvement in the American diet, indicates that this isn't the first time the USDA has changed its mind about what Americans should be eating. Why meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans, peas, nuts, and peanut butter comprise one food group and butter gets its own category seems difficult to comprehend today.
Previously: The Mediterranean diet has gone the way of the American one, with similar results, Stanford nutritionist offers guidelines for eating healthy on the go, and More chain restaurants offering nutritional information, healthier offerings
Photo by the USDA and is a U.S. Government Work
