Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality

USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) provides descriptive data on U.S. consumers’ diet quality, including intakes of nutrients and consumption of food groups based on recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) (U.S. Department of Agriculture & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDA &DHHS), 2020). These data report national estimates of daily intake amounts, distribution percentages, and density of nutrients and food groups by food source from 1977 to 2018.

Density—the amount of a nutrient or food-group equivalent contained in each 1,000 calories in foods—is used as a measure of diet quality. Nutrient and food group density values are used in the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) to measure how well a diet aligns with DGA dietary recommendations.

There are two main food sources—food at home and food away from home—and the latter is further separated into restaurants (with waiter service), fast food places (self-service), schools, and other food-away-from-home places.

The descriptive statistics provide national estimates of averages and standard errors using food consumption survey data collected by the Federal Government since 1977, namely the 1977–1978 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey; 1989–1991, 1994–1996, and 1998 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals; and 2003–2018 What We Eat In America/National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (WWEIA/NHANES), 11 nationally-representative survey cycles in total.

There are 8 tables displaying descriptive statistics (including mean values and their associated standard errors) for the U.S. population aged 2 and older, including data by demographics (i.e. age, gender, household income, race and ethnicity, and adult education attainment), for each of the 11 survey cycles.

• Table 1: Sample sizes by population subgroup for each survey cycle.
• Tables 2–4: The intake amounts, distribution percentages (shares), and density for selected nutrients by food source.
• Tables 5–7: The intake amounts, distribution percentages (shares), and density for food groups by food source.
• Table 8: A summary of the dietary recommendations (Daily Nutritional Goals and the Healthy U.S.-Style Dietary Pattern) expressed in terms of density measure and the actual nutrient and food group density reported by U.S. consumers in the 2017–2018 WWEIA/NHANES as well as the ratio of the actual 2017–2018 density to the recommended density.

The tables are from USDA, ERS’s Economic Information Bulletin entitled Dietary Quality by Food Source and Demographics in the United States, 1977–2018, referred to as “the EIB” in the rest of this data product.

Dietary Quality by Food Source and Demographics in the United States, 1977–2018

WWEIA/NHANES are ongoing with each survey conducted over 2 years, with interruptions due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The next update to this data product is expected no earlier than 2026. WWEIA/NHANES are conducted jointly by USDA and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USHHS). USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the Department’s lead agency in working with USHHS on WWEIA/NHANES. For each survey, USDA, ARS has posted descriptive statistics of the data. USDA, ERS’ data complement USDA, ARS’ data by presenting data in tables spanning 1977–2018, facilitating examination of trends in food and nutrient consumption. This data product also examines trends across sociodemographic characteristics.

Recommended citation: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Economic Research Service (ERS). (2024). Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality.

Note: On August 21, 2024, the Food Consumption and Nutrient Intakes data product was renamed Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality to reflect the scope of the data.