In this first recitation, we will
try to understand various nutritional facts about food,
while getting more practice using R. Good nutrition
is an important part of leading a healthy lifestyle.
Malnutrition can result in obesity,
which has been rising at an alarming rate.
In the US for instance, while all states in 1990
had less than 14% obesity, figures started increasing.
And by 2000, half of the country has more than 20%
of its population obese.
The trend continues.
And in 2010, all states have at least more than 20%
of their population obese.
Many states across the country reached an alarming situation.
More than 35% of American adults are obese.
The trends Worldwide are no different.
Obesity has nearly doubled across the globe.
Obesity is one of today's blatantly visible public health
problems, and increases people's risk
to heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
In fact 65% of the world's population
lives in countries where obesity kills
more people than underweight.
So good nutrition is essential for an overall healthy
lifestyle and promoting it now is more important than ever.
We have access to hundreds of nutrition and weight loss
applications, and around 15% of adults with cell phones
use health applications on their devices.
These apps are mostly powered by the United States Department
of Agricultural, or USDA, food database.
The United States Department of Agricultural
distributes nutritional information
of over 7,000 food items including
amount of calories, carbs, protein, fat,
and sodium, among other nutrients.
It is exactly this data that we will
be analyzing in this recitation.
In the next video, we will read in the USDA data set in R
and get more familiar with its content.