The American Diet Is Improving, But Not By Much

An analysis of diet quality trends from 1999 to 2010 found that Americans increasingly ate more healthful foods, but there is a growing diet disparity between the affluent and disadvantaged. Dietary improvement was mainly due to the reduction in consumption of trans fats. Diet quality scores among people with more income and education were consistently higher than among poorer people, and the gap widened over the 11 years analyzed. The researchers stressed that despite improvement, overall dietary quality remains poor, presenting significant challenges for public policy and nutrition education.