Trends in What Americans Eat

Determining trends in what Americans eat is important for determining shortfalls, assessing overconsumption, developing dietary guidance, creating dietary interventions, informing nutrition education and food product design, and understanding dietary risks to health, among other reasons. This review uses a historical lens to consider the early estimation of diet, specifically the intake of certain nutrients in small samples of US males, as well as the nationally representative estimation and tracking of usual dietary patterns, including dietary quality and beverage and food group intake among population groups. The trends in what Americans eat currently and over time are synthesized with evidence of how the factors of age, sex, race/ethnicity, and income may or may not differentiate food and beverage intake and which are most influential to meeting dietary recommendations. The results provide a rich context to inform future trends, dietary needs, and improvement.