The Modern Diet Is a Biosecurity Threat

The fine article mentions Michael Pollan, whose book Cooked [0] was recently given to me. The chapter on the history of wheat is great.

Pollan says that humans have been trying to make their bread whiter as long as we've been making bread. But we didn't get really good at it until the roller mill was invented in the mid-1800's. In the olden days every community had a flour mill, because milled flour only lasted 2 weeks before it became stale. At first the white flour was a modern miracle: perfectly airy/fluffy bread, flour able to be stored, transported and shipped long distances, etc. Then degenerative diseases started appearing.

Fortification started around 1940's / 1950's, after the Army noticed the recruits for WWII weren't nearly as healthy as in decades past. The joke of fortification is that they only replace some of what was removed by turning wheat into white flour.

Haven't finished the article yet, but it's great.

Besides the widespread fortification and consumption of white flour, what other science-mistakes have become endemic?

edit: [0] https://michaelpollan.com/books/cooked/

America killed a lot of people in unnecessary wars but exporting their diet and food may have just been the most deadliest thing they've done.