Americans Measure up to FGP?

Food Guide Pyramid

How do American's Measure Up?

Below is an excerpt from an abstract of a USDA/Economic Research report examining the US food supply according to the Food Guide Pyramid recommendations.

The full report can be accessed at the website address below. It also can be ordered from the ERS-NASS Sales Desk at 1-800-999-6779 from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Abstract

Most American diets do not meet Federal Food Guide Pyramid dietary recommendations. On average, people consume:

too many servings of added:

fats

sugars

too few servings of:

fruits

vegetables

dairy products

lean meats and

foods made from whole grains

when compared with a reference set of Food Guide Pyramid serving recommendations appropriate to the age and gender composition of the U.S. population. In addition, while the healthfulness of diets has improved over time, the pace of improvement has been uneven.

Most American diets do not meet Federal Food Guide
Pyramid dietary recommendations.

For example, while Americans consumed record amounts of fruits and vegetables in 1996, consumption of caloric sweeteners also reached a 27-year high. This report is the first dietary assessment to use ERS's time-series food supply data to compare average diets with Federal dietary recommendations depicted in the Food Guide Pyramid.

Food Guide Pyramid:
Servings were estimated for more than 250 agricultural commodities for 1970-96. New techniques were developed to adjust the data for food spoilage and other losses accumulated throughout the marketing system and the home.

Source:

A Dietary Assessment of the U.S. Food Supply:
Comparing Per Capita Food Consumption with
Food Guide Pyramid Serving Recommendations.
By Linda Scott Kantor, Food and Rural Economics
Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department
of Agriculture. Agricultural Economic Report 772.
December 1998. Stock # ERS-AER-772. $16.00.