The federal dietary guidance aims to promote the health of Americans and to reduce the risk for major chronic diseases through better diet and physical activity. The federal government conducts nationally representative dietary surveys as part of its nutrition monitoring activities. Chapter 1 examines the diet of 17,107 Americans, 2 years of age and above, who provided complete, reliable one-day dietary data in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002 conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The study had two focus areas. The first area examined the macronutrient profile of U.S. population and six age-gender groups: children 2-5 years; children 6-11 years; males, 12-19 years; females, 1219 years; adult males, ages 20 years and over; and adult females, ages 20 years and over. The percent energy from carbohydrate ranged from 49% to 56% among the six groups. However,children 11-19 years of age obtained a higher percent of energy from added sugars than adults (21% vs.16%). The grain products were the top source of dietary fiber followed by vegetables. The mean percent of total calories from saturated fat among the groups (11%12%) was above the level recommended by the federal dietary guidance (less than 10%). In children, milk and milk products group, and in adults, meat, poultry, fish and eggs group were the top sources of saturated fat. The second study area compared the diet quality of adults (n=8,983) in the four quartiles based on their percentage of total energy from carbohydrate.
After adjusting for age and gender in regression models, the adults in the highest carbohydrate quartile had the lowest energy, saturated fat, and cholesterol intakes. They chose low fat foods from milk and meat groups. They ate more whole grains and citrus fruits, melons, and berries, foods that were good sources of dietary fiber. However, the dietary fiber intakes of all four quartiles were far below the recommended level of 14 grams per 1,000 kilocalories. The study showed that children and adults could increase the nutritional quality of their diet and also simultaneously decrease their energy intake by controlling intakes of foods and beverages high in added sugars and/or saturated fat and by increasing intake of whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables, foods that are rich in dietary fiber and micronutrients and also relatively low in energy content.
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