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The U.S. Grain Consumption Landscape: Who Eats Grain, in What Form, Where, and How Much?
Lin, Biing-Hwan and Yen, Steven T.
Economic Research Report No. (ERR-50) 35 pp, November 2007
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are intended to help consumers choose diets that meet
their nutritional needs and improve their health. As part of a healthy diet, the Guidelines emphasize the value of whole grains. There is growing evidence that those who consume
enough whole grains may reduce their risk of heart disease, as well as their likelihood of
becoming overweight.
What Is the Issue?
Are Americans actually following the grain consumption recommendations in the 2005 Dietary
Guidelines? More specifically, how much grain do Americans eat? At which meals? What
characteristics are associated with low or high consumption of refined and whole grains?
Which subpopulations are particularly deficient in meeting the whole-grain recommendations?
Answers to these questions can serve as guidelines for developing intervention strategies.
What Did the Study Find?
The analysis showed a strong preference in the American diet for refined grains over whole
grains. Ninety-three percent of Americans failed to meet the recommendation to consume 3
ounces per day of whole grains for a 2,000-calorie diet. Specific findings include:
- Americans eat too much refined grain and not enough whole grain. During 1994-96 and
1998, Americans consumed 6.7 ounces of total grains per day, or 106 percent of the recommendation.
However, they overconsumed refined grains, averaging 77 percent more than the
recommended daily amount, while eating 34 percent of the amount of whole grains recommended
in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines. Children, even more than adults, favored refined
over whole grains, and the presence of children in the home had a negative effect on adults’
whole-grain consumption.
- Breakfast foods are good sources of whole grains. Americans ate 40 percent of their whole
grains at breakfast, 23 percent at lunch, and 17 percent at dinner, with the rest provided by
snack foods.
- Restaurant foods are not a good source of whole grain. A third of Americans’ calories came from meals
prepared away from home, yet 1,000 calories of a restaurant meal averages less than one-third ounce of whole
grains. Thus, it takes over 10,000 calories of restaurant food to obtain the amount of whole grains needed to
meet the Government guidelines.
- Grain consumption varies by race and ethnicity. The study found that Asians averaged 22 percent of the
recommended amount of whole grains, compared with 25 percent for Blacks, 35 percent for Whites, and 41
percent for Hispanics.
- Food-label use matters, as do personal perceptions about grains in the diet. Both label use (or non-use) and
an individual’s perception of whether grains affect health influenced the person’s total grain intake, with
perception having the greater impact. Those who considered it important to eat enough grains were 36 percent
more likely to consume whole grains than those who did not.
- Some demographic characteristics are associated with grain consumption. Individuals most likely to read
food labels and to value grains in the diet included those with higher educational attainment, meal planners, and
people who exercise vigorously. Higher household income was associated with the use of food labels, but not
with the perceived importance of grain consumption. People less likely to use food labels and to consider grains
important included smokers and those who doubted that food choices affected health.
How Was the Study Conducted?
The authors analyzed data from USDA's Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) conducted in
1994-96 and 1998. The survey also collected various economic, social, and demographic characteristics for each
respondent and his/her household. The 1994-96 survey had a companion module, The Diet and Health Knowledge
Survey, which asked adults about their information, attitudes, and practices with respect to diet and health, making
the CSFII data ideal for examining the effects of knowledge and practices on food consumption. Since 1998,
USDA has published two further surveys of U.S. food intake, most recently for 2003-2004. However, these
surveys did not ask about dietary knowledge and practices and cannot be used to study their effects on grain
consumption. When data from future surveys are analyzed, the present study will be valuable as a baseline for
assessing changes in the U.S. diet and the consumption of grains and whole grains.
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