The line graph illustrates the consumption of two milk-based products — butter and margarine — in the United States between the years 1980 and 2020. Throughout the forty-year difference, the amount of people who consumed margarine experienced a downward trend, while those who consumed butter had not much of a significant change.
The per capita consumption of margarine significantly decreased from 1980 to 2020. The downward trend shows that every ten years, approximately 2 units (per person consumption in lbs) reduce. This can be due to multiple factors, one of them including the appearance of other alternatives that offer healthier or more nutritious ingredients as new inventions are introduced each year.
Furthermore, the consumption of butter does not show significant differences. In 1990, it experienced a slight trough. Nonetheless, it did not only manage to increase over the decade but surpass it, increasing the amount of people who consumed butter over the next few years. As a result, the highest data is in the year 2020.
In conclusion, both margarine and butter show indirect changes, with margarine having a drastic downturn while butter having slight increases despite having a point where it decreased.