American Food Intake Report Card

A report from USDA's Economic Research Service shows that Americans do not meet the Federal dietary recommendations and to do so they would need to substantially lower their intake of added fats, refined grains, and added sugars and sweeteners and increase their consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat milk and milk products. The report examines major trends in the amount of food available for consumption in the U.S. between 1970 and 2005 using data from the ERS Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System.Here is a summary:The U.S. obesity rate among adults has more than doubled since 1970. The extent of obesity in this country has focused attention on what Americans have been eating. Americans are eating more from all of the major food groups—even fruits and vegetables. However, many are not meeting the Federal dietary recommendations. For Americans to meet these recommendations, they would need to substantially lower their intake of added fats, refined grains, and added sugars and sweeteners and increase their consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lower fat milk and milk products.--Grains - most Americans consume 8 ounces of refined grains and just under 1 ounce of whole grains per day. Most should be consuming 6 ounces of grains with at least half of those being whole each day.--Fruits/Vegetables - most Americans consume .9 cups of fruit and 1.7 cups of vegetables each day. They should be consuming 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables each day.--Milk - while most Americans should consume 3 cups of nonfat milk per day most are consuming around 1.8.--Fats and Oils - even though the recommendation for total calories from fat is 20-35%, Americans are still in trouble - because they consume 32%?of their total calories from added fats and oils. THAT?figure does not include the fat that is found naturally in food which is probably close to 15-20% - so if you add those figures they are likely consuming almost half of their calories from fat. It is interesting to note that added fats and oils increased by 63% between 1970 and 2005 in the American Diet - that is quite an increase! Most of the added oils are from cooking oils, salad oil and salad dressings. In addition, it is estimated that most Americans eat too much saturated fat, ringing in at 31% instead of the recommended 10%.--Meat/Beans - the guidelines call for most people to consume about 5.5 ounces of protein each day but USDA estimates are that they are eating 6.5 ounces per day which is still too much.--Added sugars - the guidelines call for most Americans to limit added sugar consumption to 8 teaspoons per day but most are eating 30 teaspoons a day - way too much!FMI see http://www.ers.usda.gov