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food / travel

Hey Americans, It's Your Restaurants (Not Mom) That's Making You Fat

Sodium is always on the menu
Sodium is always on the menu
Rob Wile

Americans started eating out a lot more over the past thirty years, a trend that likely caused obesity rates to skyrocket, according to a new USDA report.

The study tracked caloric and nutrient consumption at home versus restaurants, fast food establishments and schools between 1978 and 2008.

Their results:

Over the past 30 years, food prepared away from home (FAFH) has become a regular part of most Americans’ diets, and those who monitor food trends expect this to continue...Unfortunately, consumption of FAFH has been found to increase caloric intake and reduce diet quality."

Here's their data for percent changes in calorie source:

And foods served away from home have a ton more sodium than ones not served at home:

They conclude: "More research on the effects of regular, long-term consumption of FAFH on caloric intake, diet quality, and weight status is needed, but our results suggest that its association with higher caloric intake and lower diet quality deserves public health attention."



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Future

Life On "Mars": With The Teams Simulating Space Missions Under A Dome

A niche research community plays out what existence might be like on, or en route to, another planet.

Photo of a person in a space suit walking toward the ​Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah

At the Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah

Sarah Scoles

In November 2022, Tara Sweeney’s plane landed on Thwaites Glacier, a 74,000-square-mile mass of frozen water in West Antarctica. She arrived with an international research team to study the glacier’s geology and ice fabric, and how its ice melt might contribute to sea level rise. But while near Earth’s southernmost point, Sweeney kept thinking about the moon.

“It felt every bit of what I think it will feel like being a space explorer,” said Sweeney, a former Air Force officer who’s now working on a doctorate in lunar geology at the University of Texas at El Paso. “You have all of these resources, and you get to be the one to go out and do the exploring and do the science. And that was really spectacular.”

That similarity is why space scientists study the physiology and psychology of people living in Antarctic and other remote outposts: For around 25 years, people have played out what existence might be like on, or en route to, another world. Polar explorers are, in a way, analogous to astronauts who land on alien planets. And while Sweeney wasn’t technically on an “analog astronaut” mission — her primary objective being the geological exploration of Earth — her days played out much the same as a space explorer’s might.

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