An as yet unpublished evaluation of how well American diets adhere to the dietary guidelines comes to an alarming conclusion: 86.3% are of poor quality. The study comes from researchers at the University of California San Francisco and Nourish Science.
Methods: The authors used dietary recall data from the 2009-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) and compared participants’ dietary intakes to the Healthy Eating Index.
Results: Compared to adults with high diet quality, those with very low diet quality consumed:
- Less unprocessed or minimally processed foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and seafood
- More ultra-processed foods, refined grains, and red and processed meats
They also were more likely to be overweight, have lower HDL cholesterol, but higher triglycerides, fasting glucose, and hemoglobin A1c (a marker of type-2 diabetes).
The authors explain their study in an Infographic and a YouTube video.
NHANES collects dietary intake information from representative population samples by interview.
The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) was developed in 1995 as a tool to measure adherence to recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It is calculated on the basis of foods consumed and calories, sodium, saturated fats, and total fats.
The results of this study lead to obvious policy recommendations for healthier eating:
- More unprocessed or minimally processed foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and seafood
- Less ultra-processed foods, refined grains, and red and processed meats
__________
Forthcoming November 11, 2025: What To Eat Now
The post The diets of most Americans do not meet dietary recommendations appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle
