Food Patterns Equivalents Intakes from Food: Consumed per Individual, What We Eat in America, NHANES 2007-2008, Tables 1-4

Authors: Bowman, Shanthy; Clemens, John; Friday, James; THOERIG, RACHEL - University Of Maryland; SHIMIZU, MIYUKI - Johns Hopkins School Of Public Health; BARROWS, BRIAN - Johns Hopkins School Of Public Health; Moshfegh, Alanna

Submitted to: Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/14/2013
Publication Date: 9/3/2013
Citation: Bowman, S.A., Clemens, J.C., Friday, J.E., Thoerig, R.C., Shimizu, M., Barrows, B.R., Moshfegh, A.J. 2013. Food Patterns Equivalents Intakes from Food: Consumed per Individual, What We Eat in America, NHANES 2007-2008, Tables 1-4. Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group. Available: www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=23595.

Interpretive Summary: To evaluate how well Americans adhere to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommendations, a Food Patterns Equivalents Database (FPED) 2007-08 has been developed for the foods reported in the What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (WWEIA, NHANES) 2007-08. The main Food Patterns (FP) components include: Fruit, Vegetables, Grains, Dairy, Protein Foods, Added Sugars, Oils, Solid Fats, and Alcoholic Drinks. Many of the main FP components have subcomponents, resulting in a total of 37 FP components. The four table sets provide mean intakes of the 37 FP components per individual grouped by the following categories: age-gender (21 groups), race-ethnicity (20 groups), annual household income as percentage of poverty (15 groups), and annual household income in dollars (15 groups). The mean daily intakes of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains were well below the DGA recommendations. Individuals 2 years and over consumed one cup equivalent of fruit of which one-third was consumed as juice. The dark green vegetables intake was only a tenth of a cup equivalent. Potatoes were the highest consumed vegetables (0.4 cup eq.) followed by tomatoes (0.3 cup eq.). Whole grains intake was less than an ounce equivalent (0.8 oz. eq.). Mean intake of total meat, poultry, and seafood was 4.5 ounce equivalents. Hispanics consumed 1.1 cup equivalents of total fruit with 40 percent of the fruit consumed as juice. Hispanics consumed 0.2 cup equivalent of legumes, whereas Non-Hispanic whites and blacks consumed less than 0.1 cup equivalent of legumes. All race-ethnic groups consumed less than one ounce equivalent of whole grains. This information is useful to nutritionists and policymakers to assess the diet quality of Americans from different socio-economic backgrounds. This information can be used to develop appropriate nutrition intervention programs for specific population segments.

Technical Abstract: The four table sets include national estimates of mean intakes of the 37 Food Patterns (FP) consumed per person estimated from the day 1 dietary intake data of 8,529 individuals, ages 2 years and over, in What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (WWEIA, NHANES) 2007-2008 and Food Patterns Equivalents Database (FPED) 2007-08. The four table sets provide mean daily intakes of the 37 FP components per individual by the following categories: age-gender (21 groups), race-ethnicity (20 groups), annual household income as percentage of poverty (15 groups), and annual household income in dollars (15 groups). The main FP components include: Fruit, Vegetables, Grains, Dairy, Protein Foods, Added Sugars, Oils, Solid Fats, and Alcoholic Drinks. Many of the main FP components are further subdivided so as to enhance the use of FPED to facilitate in-depth analyses. The national mean daily fruit intake was 1 cup equivalent of which one-third was consumed as juice, about one-fifth as citrus, melons and berries, and one-half as other fruit. The mean daily vegetables intake was 1.4 cup equivalents, about one-fourth was potatoes, and one-fifth was tomatoes. Whole grains consumption was less than one ounce equivalent and far below the dietary guidelines recommendations. Dairy intake was 1.7 cup equivalents of which 40 percent was cheese and 55 percent was fluid milk, which included dry and evaporated milk computed as fluid milk equivalents. The mean daily intake of poultry, cured meat, and meat (uncured) components were 1.4, 1.0, and 1.6 ounce equivalents, respectively. The solid fats and oils intakes were 39.3 and 20.9 grams equivalents, respectively. Hispanics consumed about one-fifth cup equivalents of legumes as vegetables. High income individuals (from those households with income over 185 percent of poverty) consumed a higher proportion of fruit (0.7 cup eq.) to juice (0.3 cup eq.); whereas, low income individuals (those from households with income below 131 percent poverty) consumed a lower proportion of fruit (0.4 cup eq.) to juice (0.5 cup eq.).