American diets are out of balance with dietary recommendations
- by Economic Research Service
- 8/11/2011

While Americans are consuming more dairy products and fruit than in 1970, the average American diet still falls short of the daily recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. According to ERS' Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data for 2009, Americans on average consumed more than the recommended amounts of meat and grains but less of the recommended amounts of dairy products, fruit, and vegetables. This chart can be found in the Diet Quality and Food Consumption briefing room on the ERS website, updated in September 2011.