What Foods Should Americans Eat? Better Information Needed on Nutritional Quality of Foods

Americans have a growing desire to select foods that promote good health. With thousands of food products to choose from, food decisions are becoming more difficult for consumers and the Government. In recent decades, the American food supply has changed so that more than half of the public's diet consists of processed foods rather than fresh produce. This comes at a time, when Americans are less active than their counterparts in previous generations and therefore should consume fewer calories and/or be more physically active to maintain an ideal weight.

Although attempts have been made to classify foods as nutritious, low nutritious, or junk foods, no food in isolation from a total diet should be characterized as good or bad. It is the combination of foods which complement each other that forms the basis for a nutritious diet. Thus, a greater Federal effort is needed to help consumers determine what foods and diet are best for their health, and to help Government carry out its food programs consistently and effectively. Additionally, recommended ranges, allowances, or other standards should be established on what is too much or too little intake for controversial food components. But the lack of data on the nutrient content of food limits the decisions that Government and others can make with respect to nutrition research, education, surveillance, labeling, advertising, and food delivery programs. Moreover, the relatively small effort by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and others to increase the output of composition data is attributable to the low priority for performing nutrient analysis of food and the lack of adequate methods for analyzing the nutritional content of foods.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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