Americans Do Not Meet Federal Dietary Recommendations
Open accessAbstract
A longstanding goal of dietary surveillance has been to estimate the proportion of the population with intakes above or below a target, such as a recommended level of intake. However, until now, statistical methods for assessing the alignment of food intakes with recommendations have been lacking. The purposes of this study were to demonstrate the National Cancer Institute's method of estimating the distribution of usual intake of foods and determine the proportion of the U.S. population who does not meet federal dietary recommendations. Data were obtained from the 2001-2004 NHANES for 16,338 persons, aged 2 y and older. Quantities of foods reported on 24-h recalls were translated into amounts of various food groups using the MyPyramid Equivalents Database. Usual dietary intake distributions were modeled, accounting for sequence effect, weekend/weekday effect, sex, age, poverty income ratio, and race/ethnicity. The majority of the population did not meet recommendations for all of the nutrient-rich food groups, except total grains and meat and beans. Concomitantly, overconsumption of energy from solid fats, added sugars, and alcoholic beverages ("empty calories") was ubiquitous. Over 80% of persons age ≥ 71 y and over 90% of all other sex-age groups had intakes of empty calories that exceeded the discretionary calorie allowances. In conclusion, nearly the entire U.S. population consumes a diet that is not on par with recommendations. These findings add another piece to the rather disturbing picture that is emerging of a nation's diet in crisis.
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Children's intake of vegetables is further from dietary recommendations compared to fruits.
“children's intake of vegetables is further from dietary recommendations compared to fruits [41]”
From Healthier side dishes at restaurants: an analysis of children's perspectives, menu content, and energy impacts (2014) · cites this paper as [41]
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- Authors
- Krebs-Smith, S. M., Guenther, P. M., Subar, A. F., Kirkpatrick, S. I., & Dodd, K. W.
- Affiliations
- United States Department of Agriculture (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Nutrition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-10
- Volume
- 140
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1832-1838
- ISSN
- 0022-3166 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2937576
- OpenAlex
- W2112684865
- Cited by
- 711
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 49 · 2018: 51 · 2017: 67 · 2016: 66 · 2015: 101 · 2014: 72 · 2013: 56 · 2012: 39
- FWCI
- 38.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutrition and Health Studies
- Keywords
- dietary recommendations, usual dietary intake, NHANES, empty calories, solid fats, added sugars, alcoholic beverages, order effects, older adults, dietary monitoring
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Animals, Energy Intake, Edible Grain, Child, Child, Preschool, Diet, Ethnicity, Female, Food, Fruit, Humans, Income, Fabaceae, Male, Meat, Middle Aged, Nutrition Surveys, Sex Factors, United States, Vegetables, Diet Records, Nutrition Policy, National Cancer Institute (U.S.)
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