A large portion of the population suffers from detrimental health conditions, medical costs, and lifestyle changes as a result of the food that they consume. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over one-third of U.S. adults are obese and around one-fifth of grade school children are obese. Many Netflix health documentaries describe how and why the U.S. population is growing in size, attributing most blame to the food and livestock industries. A simple two-hour documentary can affect your outlook on U.S. food culture and could change the way you live.

1. Cowspiracy

Cowspiracy dives deep into the background and processes of the livestock industry- specifically, the dairy industry. It outlines the dairy industry’s effect on the planet, human health, animal health and U.S. culture. The documentary “reveals the absolutely devastating environmental impact large-scale factory farming has on our planet, and offers a path to global sustainability for a growing population.”

2. What the Health

What the Health identifies many causes of chronic diseases, like heart disease, to reveal why leading government associations do not try to solve health epidemics.The filmmaker that narrates the documentary tries to expose “the collusion and corruption in government and big business that is costing us trillions of healthcare dollars , and keeping us sick.”

3. Fed Up

Fed Up breaks down the sugar and food industry that feeds the U.S. and increases the number of obese children and adults. The documentary outlines how “ everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong.”

4. Food Inc.

Food Inc. falls in line with other health documentaries with its takedown of government agencies, farm industries, and western food culture. It describes how food is produced and sold to a hungry nation of fast food eaters, and it “lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer. ”