To the Editor:

Re “Our Food Is Killing Too Many of Us” (Op-Ed, Aug. 26):

I’m heartened by Dariush Mozaffarian and Dan Glickman ’s focus on nutrition, and I share their concerns about a lack of policy initiatives from both the current administration and the Democratic presidential candidates.

We cannot sustain our health care system when Big Ag and Big Pharma work against better health by poisoning our food with chemicals and promoting the idea that pills alone can cure what ails us.

The fundamentals of good health include the basics of what sustains our lives: what we eat, drink and breathe. As a psychotherapist who used to work in one of those “food deserts” (in the Bronx), I saw firsthand how poor diet contributes not only to obesity and an astronomical rate of diabetes, but also to devastating amounts of anxiety and depression.

What we eat affects our moods. We must do better, or I fear for both the physical and mental health of our future countrymen and women.