“I’m late I’m late”- Meal Time & US Health Ills

The constant feeling of running late is an unrecognized cultural phenomenon as to why American diets have led to our overall poor health.? More specifically, when it comes to preparing/cooking meals, Americans spend the fewest minutes each day than all other comparable nations.

Although we all have the same 1440 minutes in a day, Americans have chipped away at the time we spend prepping and eating/drinking meals down to under one hour for all three meals.

Americans – Always on the Go

In reviewing the Current State of US Health for most of this year, an obvious cultural difference between the United States and our peers is the time of preparation and eating meals.?

Below is a graphic from Our World In Data, which reflects the number of minutes in a day that people around the world spend time eating & drinking.?

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In the US, our time to prepare and eat meals is only 63 minutes for all three meals! Many of our western European peers spend more than double US time - ?averaging 120 to 130 minutes for meals. Furthermore, in a recent study, Frito-Lay’s U.S. Snack Index shows that the average American has only 52 total minutes per day to prepare, eat and enjoy their meals. One-third of consumers note having even less time, scraping together less than 30 minutes a day to prep and enjoy meals.

As such, this likely means that we “shortcut” our prepping activities by going through drive thru, ordering take out, eating out (accompanying image) or use foodstuff that is pre-made or processed to some degree.? Guilty as charged!

?Food Is Medicine - Can that be made into a snack? Asking for friend...

An excellent article Monday in Fierce Healthcare by Noah Tong provided excellent coverage of the Food is Medicine (FIM) phenomenon. The article covers the full gamut of the players ( Erin W. Martin Chris Lew Dariush Mozaffarian Kyle Dardashti Noosheen Hashemi Josh Hix ) who are ushering this movement forward.

From my purview, FIM is growing but the pockets of activity and movement are more niche (Medicaid Section 1115 waivers and within private-public partnerships) - where food security is at the highest risk. ?This is where it needs to start, but the obesity and chronic illness epidemic needs to have FIM go mainstream. When will FIM hit escape velocity where it could change the future of snacks??

American Love Affair with Snacks

Simply put, Americans love their snacks.? Most snacks are not nutritious calories, but we still snack away – I love snacks.. One academic study shows that snacks are a staple of the American diet, contributing to approximately 20% of energy intake. Most U.S. adults consume one to three snacks per day.?

In fact, Americans are eating snacks so much that 92% of Americans replace one meal a week with snacks.

Circana reports in a recent Snacking Survey?found 50% of consumers said that when they’re on the go, they snack instead of stopping for a meal.?

When I think of Food Is Medicine it implies (or explicitly) consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, etc. – whole foods – not exactly "snacks."

Moonshot – FIM Snack

After reviewing the last 100 years of US health, one of themes that stuck was that “Human Innovation has outpaced Human Biological Evolution.”? That is a lengthier topic for another day, but in this context of the current state of US health and this commentary, we need an innovation to our food to get “America To Be Healthy Again!”?

We need CPG, QSR and agriculture with a Moonshot goal of food that is a snack “on the go” yet is as nutritious as a fruit, vegetable, etc. that could have shelf life and be tasty. I am not suggesting there are no snacks that meet this criteria in the market. We simply need more that it changes the digital and in-store shopping experience where these snacks dominate the aisles.

Americans are not reversing time in spending more time preparing and eating food.? I am not sure our culture could do a 180 to a trend that has been in place for 60 years. ?As such, can our food ecosystem meet the need of Food Is Medicine but in snack form?

#healthcare #medicine #health #future #food #innovation

Joseph W. Sunderman is an Intelligence Analyst/Strategist that is a student of understanding the Current State of the US Health and its impact for the next decade. In the past, Joe spent seven years at medical device giant Ethicon (division of Johnson & Johnson) with the most recent role as US Regional Manager of Strategic Insights and Pricing.? In his seven years at JNJ, he received recognition for his servant leadership, where he was a stand out in performance by being a top 10% recipient of Encore and Inspire Awards over multiple years.? Dozens and dozens of accolades from contributors to senior leaders for his collaborative work.? Prior to Ethicon, Joe has had a wide variety of experiences in medical claims, banking, publishing, and retail.? He began his career at Schaeffer's Investment Research as a financial analyst, where he was ranked by Bridge Information Systems as one of the top 10 market analysts for three straight years for his commentary and stock picks found in Schaeffer's Daily Bulletin. Joe has been published in the Market Pulse Journal and Chartpoint and his market comments have been printed in the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, Dow Jones News Wire, and Reuters. Also, Joe has made appearances on Bloomberg television.

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