An excursion to the farm
A trip to the grocery store
At the table
Mecklenburg's diet
Mecklenburg's diet
Eating at school
Eating at school
Food & health
Food & health
What our soil eats
What our soil eats
PART 1
What do people eat in the Charlotte Metro Area?
PART 1
The truth is, we don't know yet.
PART 1
But we tested some ways to find out what food ends up on our plates.

MyFoodRepo
A pilot study to test AI-supported dietary research tools

Have you ever heard about What We Eat In America? WWEIA is a regular survey run by the USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which collects data on America’s diets on a regular basis. This is how it works: People are called randomly and are asked to recall their food over the last 24h. The problem is: humans are quite bad at accurately reporting what and how much they eat. Also, often several 24h recalls are needed to get reliable insights because, of course, our diets might differ a lot from day to day.

Luckily, new tools are developed that help us gain interesting insights into diets which might help overcome these challenges. For example, MyFoodRepo is an app-based research tool for nutritional researchers and professionals that can be used to understand what a group of people eats over the course of several days. Study participants are simply taking photos of their meals for one week. Their photos get analyzed by a software that categorizes eaten foods - of course with the help of a human eye.

We wanted to learn what this tool can do to gather data on local food patterns in the CMA region. Our questions: Is there a uniquely local diet? And how much do factors like location, gender, age or education influence what people eat?

‍To the case study

Learn more about MyFoodRepo

Setting up a small test study

First things first: We have not done a statistically representative study of CMA’s food patterns. Instead, we have tried and tested a research tool to learn what types of insights we can get into local diets. The goal was to understand if this tool could help local universities or health practitioners in the future to start a larger food pattern study. Our learning: Yes, MyFoodRepo could help paint a picture of the uniquely local diets of people, if applied broadly.

What did we do?
‍Together with Davidson College, we prepared a small-scale trial of MyFoodRepo. We recruited 11 volunteers, aged between 19 and 40 years to take photos of their meals over one week. Then, with the support of trained student volunteers, the photos were analyzed, using the software MyFoodRepo. The 200 tracked meals are of course not a full picture of local diets - but we learned what type of information we can gather from this data.

First results

By calories
By weight (grams)

MyFoodRepo allows us to collect data on the most common food groups consumed by weight or by calories.

In our trial study, we can see that our participants consumed most calories from ultra-processed foods, such as pizza, sandwiches and burgers, followed by grains. 

First results

By calories
By weight

Using MyFoodRepo in a local nutrition study could also show us what a typical breakfast, lunch or dinner in CMA looks like. For example, it could show which food groups are usually consumed in different meal types. If done correctly, we could learn whether gender, socioeconomic status, race, age or living location affect our food patterns. Of course, our study was too small to make these conclusions - but there is a lot of potential for further research.

What could be next?

Replicating this study at a larger scale is promising and could fill knowledge gaps on nutrition and nutritional inequality across communities.

But the format has limitations. For example, it is not suited to study what food children and youth are eating.

To study childhood nutrition in the CMA, schools are a great starting point.

PART 1
Eating at schools in Mecklenburg County
Number of students eligible for free meals was derived from the North Carolina Department for Public Instructions. The graduation rate per census block group can be found on the Charlotte/ Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer.

Food for thought

Food affects children's' ability to learn and grow. School meals make up a big part of children's diets. Therefore, they're are a good starting point for investigating the nutrition of children.

In Mecklenburg County alone, 185 public and charter schools serve food to over 140,000 students daily. Over half of them are eligible for free school meals. The map on the right shows the schools where we find most eligible students.

This is a selection of the meals than be picked for school lunch at a random selection of Mecklenburg schools. Children may consume more or less food than is depicted here.

Meals in Mecklenburg County Schools

For many children, school meals are the most nutritious meals of the day. They play an important role in tackling food insecurity in the CMA.

In Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, children get to choose from a selection of entrées, grains, veggies, fruits, and a variety of dairy products.

Over the course of the week, schools need to offer foods from several food categories and make sure they meet the national USDA dietary guidelines.

How healthy are school meals?
‍
This in an estimation of processing status based on the NOVA food classification and may not reflect what children are actually choosing to eat.

Ultra-processed foods in school meals

With so many students eligible for school lunches, nutritious and fresh school meals can make a significant difference for many families and their food security. And while the guidelines for school meals that limit sugar, salt and fat are a great start, school canteens are often found to serve ultra-processed foods.

To find out what role ultra-processed foods play in school meals, we can use local school meal plans and categorize meals by their processing status, using the NOVA scale. We have done this for a sample week, using school meals offered at a randomly selected school. Our results for this pilot showed that, for this week, over 75% of calories offered came from ultra-processed foods. 

Such a study of school meals could be very insightful if paired with a deeper analysis of the food choices children make in the canteen.
What are ultra-processed foods and why should we be concerned?
PART 1
Can we bring more fresh & whole foods into our schools?
Currently, apples are delivered to schools from farms but this may change with the seasons.

Apples for Mecklenburg County's schools

Thanks to the NC Farm-to-School Program, more and more schools are getting food from regional farmers.

In North Carolina, farmers are selling a variety of fruits, vegetables, meat, and even rice to NC schools. Yet, the clear winner is apples! Over 10,000 cases of apples and apple slices were sold to NC schools in 2024.

Could we build a CMA Farm-to-School program?

With over 500 small farms just in the Charlotte Metro Area alone, there is an untapped opportunity to source ingredients for school lunches more regionally. This could not only profit the health of students but also open up new markets for smaller family farms. A prerequisite for smaller farms to sell to local school caterers is a stable system that aggregates and distributes the harvests of many producers - something that has been done in other places, such as France, where policies required the local sourcing of a share of purchased foods.

Select a food group to see where schools could source from

Meat, eggs & dairy

Vegetables, fruits & nuts

Cereals

Fish products

Mushrooms

Honey

PART 1
We need more research to know Mecklenburg County's unique diet.

But we already see the health consequences of dietary choices everywhere

Heart disease affects so many of us

Heart disease stands out as the primary cause of premature death in Mecklenburg County, but its impact is not uniform across all demographics. Black or African Americans not only experience higher mortality rates but also bear a greater burden of heart disease compared to their white counterparts.

This map is based on data collected through the collaborative project PLACES: Local Data for Better Health.

Who is most at risk of heart disease?


Diabetes
Blood pressure

Obesity

The factors influencing heart disease are extremely complex and interconnected. However, the evidence is very strong that conditions like diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure increase the risk of suffering from heart disease. Where do we find most people with these risk factors in Mecklenburg County?

Diabetes is affecting more and more people globally. Many factors play a role in whether or not people develop the disease, including an inactive lifestyle, smoking, or a poor diet. Specially, the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed foods has been found to increase the risk of suffering from diabetes. Living with the disease affects every aspect of patients’ lives and can have significant mental, social, and economic implications. With an increasing number of patients under treatment, the disease is also a significant financial burden to health care systems: According to the American Diabetes Association, the direct medical expenses of diabetes patients in North Carolina summed up to $7.7 billion in 2017.

Our food choices have a significant impact on our blood pressure. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats can help keep blood pressure in check. On the other hand, consuming too much sodium, sugary foods, and saturated fats can raise blood pressure levels.

In Mecklenburg County, high blood pressure rates follow the same spatial pattern as diabetes and obesity: the crescent* around the center of Charlotte is more affected by high blood pressure than the southern neighborhoods.



* The term "crescent" is often used to describe the pattern of wealth and income distribution. It describes the arc of lower-income communities in the north, west and east of the city of Charlotte

In some areas of Mecklenburg, obesity rates have soared to as high as 50%, underscoring a troubling global trend of increasing numbers of individuals grappling with excessive body fat.

It's crucial to recognize that addressing the obesity epidemic requires collective action beyond individual efforts. Many contributing factors, such as urban planning prioritizing car usage, the pricing disparity between healthy and unhealthy foods, and the food industry's engineering of products to enhance consumption, lie beyond individual control.

This map is based on data collected through the collaborative project PLACES: Local Data for Better Health.

PART 1
We need nutrient-rich foods to keep people healthy.

And nutrient-rich foods need healthy soils to grow in.
Studies comparing the difference in nutritional content between regenerative and convential produce are limited.

Healthy soils, healthy plants, healthy you

Eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits is an excellent way to obtain essential micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. However, research highlights a concerning trend: our crops are not as nutritious as they once were. Soils have become less fertile and are depleted of minerals and nutrients. Restoring soil health through farming practices that protect soil life and prevent erosion can help produce more nutritious food again.

These insights come from preliminary studies that compare the nutrient density between crops from conventional and regenerative farms.However, transitioning to more sustainable farming systems isn't easy for farmers.

Decades of policies and market pressures have locked many into practices that prioritize yield over sustainability. Support for farmers is essential in making this transition, which includes financial assistance, technical guidance, and developing markets for sustainably grown, nutrient-rich produce​ (NRCS USDA).

Can nutrient-rich plants help us tackle diseases?
An excursion to
the farm
A trip to
the grocery store
At the table
‍
An excursion to the farm
A trip to the grocary store
At the table

Diving into the pantries: What do food insecure people in Mecklenburg eat?

Total
Vegetables
Fruits

To learn a bit more about Mecklenburg's food-insecure population, we can look towards food pantries and food charities that provide the most at-risk communities with nutrition.

With around 61,000 people using the Grocery Online service from Nourish Up, we can gain insights into the food patterns and preferences of food pantry clients.

Vegetable orders from Nourish Up's Online Grocery Service reflect the cultural flavors of North Carolina. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens and tomatoes are popular amongst online shoppers.

While fresh veggies make up more than half of the purchased vegetables, canned mixed and pureed veggies are commonly requested.

The USDA Healthy Eating Guidelines recommends the consumption of around 1.5 to 2.5 cups of fruits per day. These can be any fruits, frozen, fresh, dried or 100% juice.

Clients of Online Grocery Services purchase a wide range of fruits, from citrus fruits, apples and peaches. Most of this fruit is bought in cans or tins.

This only includes online ordering data and does not cover groceries collected at brick-and-mortar pantries.

What exactly places us at risk of suffering from heart disease?

Six out of nine risk factors for heart disease are directly linked to our diets. Eating lots of sugary and fatty foods without fiber makes us more likely to suffer from obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol. These conditions make it more likely to develop heart disease later in life.

Nutrients in our plants are not always the same!

Industrialized agriculture have been detrimental for the health of soils. Soil erosion and loss of soil fertility are globally concerning trends that also affect agriculture in the US.

What does that mean for the nutrients in our foods? When we compare the nutritional density of foods from different agricultural practices, we can see a concerning trend. While there is still a lot that research needs to dive into, some researchers have started compare the nutrient density of plant compounds in crops and meats from conventional, organic and regenerative farms. What have they found?

Read up on it:
Montgomery, D. R., & Biklé, A. (2021). Soil health and nutrient density: beyond organic vs. conventional farming. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 5.

Montgomery, D. R., Biklé, A., Archuleta, R., Brown, P., & Jordan, J. (2022). Soil health and nutrient density: preliminary comparison of regenerative and conventional farming. PeerJ, 10, e12848.