We sure have discovered a lot of things that are bad for us over the last 50 years.
When today's grandparents were growing up, the world was a Wild West of unhealthy choices.
You could smoke, drink, and eat with abandon.
These days, we have a lot more laws designed to nudge Americans to live their lives in a healthier way.
Here are 10 things today's grandparents probably did back in their day — some of which many of us still do — before science figured out they were bad for us:
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1. Smoked
In 1950, almost half of Americans smoked.
Cigarette companies advertised that doctors smoked, and a majority of them did.
But over the decades, scientists realized that smoking was causing cancer (most notably lung cancer) and heart disease. It can also cause birth defects if women smoke while they're pregnant.
Today, one in five American adults still use tobacco products. But now they probably know about all the risks.
2. Ate processed meats
While the health effects of eating unprocessed red meat like fresh beef and pork in moderation are contested, scientists have found that processed red meat is not good for us.
Hot dogs, ham, salami, bacon, and sausage are delicious, but researchers have found eating them is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and cancer.
This is likely because processed meat contains a lot of salt, which can raise your blood pressure and cholesterol, eventually leading to heart problems.
Heart disease and cancer are the two leading causes of death in the US, and we still haven't kicked the carnivorous habit. In fact, we've gotten worse.
In 1950, an average American ate 138 pounds of meat per year. Today, that number's risen to over 195 pounds.
3. Drove drunk
While the overall drinking rate has steadily increased in the US since the 1930s, drunk driving deaths have plummeted.
That's thanks to driving under the influence laws across the country. New York passed the first one in 1910, and the rest of the states soon followed, but the laws didn't get specific enough to really make a difference until the '70s.
Raising the drinking age to 21 in the 1980s and '90s helped, too.
Since 1982, drunk driving fatalities have declined 53%, though today around 10,000 people still die every year in crashes caused by a drunk driver.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider