Fewer Americans report always having sugar-sweetened beverages available at home

A series of questions in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) asks respondents aged 16 and older how often different types of food are kept in their home in order to get an idea of the food environment in U.S. homes. In 2007-08 and 2009-10, respondents were asked how often they had soft drinks, fruit-flavored drinks, or fruit punch available at home. In both surveys, the most common response was “always,” followed by “sometimes.” However, between the two surveys, the share of people saying that they “always” kept such beverages at home fell by 7.1 percentage points, and the share of “never” rose by 2.2 percentage points—positive trends for Americans, who typically over-consume added sugars in foods and beverages. This chart appears in “National Surveys Reveal Modest Improvement in the Types of Foods Available in Americans’ Homes” in the April 2015 issue of ERS’s Amber Waves magazine.

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