Have only a trivial amount of strawberries from concentrate but contain highly processed ingredients never before present in the food supply, including seven variants of sugar and partially hydrogenated fat, according to a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

This is merely one example of an “ultraprocessed” food product. The amount of these products in our national diet is alarming and comes from “extreme chemical and mechanical manipulation of just three species – corn, wheat and soy – and animals fed those commodities.” Agricultural subsidies promote this technology and an industry that is fixated on short-term economic gain rather than public health. It’s not surprising that we see rising rates of obesity and chronic disease – not to mention rising health care costs.

There is much we can do through healthy eating and active living to turn this around. Still, if the Ds and Rs in Washington were really serious about health care reform and reducing costs, they might restructure agricultural subsidies to promote high quality food products such as vegetables, fruits and legumes. We wonder what the appetite is for that.