After remaining relatively stable during most of the 20th century, average energy
consumption increased by roughly 12 percent between 1985 and 2000, mostly due
to increased carbohydrates and consumption of grains and added fats and sugars.
This is in part because of lack of time or availability of less expensive food
lacking in nutritional quality — once people ate tortilla chips, then tortilla chips
with cheese, and now with a factory-made topping that looks like cheese but
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mostly contains oil, flavoring and chemicals. Ingredients often are made of what
consumers crave most — fat, sugar and salt.