The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has declared March to be National Nutrition Month. The scale of disease resulting from unhealthy eating habits has hit epidemic levels. Recent CDC studies have noted that:
- 35% of American adults are obese;
- 17% of children under the age of 19 yrs are obese;
- Over 29 million Americans have diabetes;
- Two thirds of American adults are hypertensive or pre-hypertensive.
There are many planning factors that feed into these conditions, primarily focused on the need to consciously plan and incent all aspects of a healthy food system into neighbourhoods.
Many communities are working on this now, and information can be found on Nutrition month and municipal responses at: http://www.plan4health.us/march-is-national-nutrition-month/