A balanced diet is vital as it helps attain the necessary nutrients required to remain healthy. Unhealthy eating habits have been identified as the leading factor in chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, heart diseases, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and diet-related cancers (Liu et al., 2020; Rehm et al., 2016; Shan et al., 2019). These illnesses increase mortality rates and disabilities due to a lack of sufficient nutrients to sustain the body. For instance, dietary factors contribute to 14% of disabilities and 650,000 deaths every year in the United States (Rehm et al., 2016). Therefore, poor nutrition strains the health sector and economic development because of reduced production and high treatment costs.
Understanding dietary trends and habits is essential in eliminating diet-related diseases. Liu et al. (2021) conducted a case study to examine food sources and diet quality trends among US children and adults. Case studies are important in nutrition because they offer evidence-based findings that people and health professionals use to make decisions and provide interventions. This paper examines the nutritional quality of foods from popular sources consumed by Americans.
Summary of the Findings
Most Americans get their foods from large and small grocery stores such as supermarkets and local convenience outlets. Mancino et al. (2018) found that HEI (healthy eating index) score for the large grocery stores was 45.58, while other grocery outlets recorded 35.89. This finding indicates that most Americans do not get the recommended diet quality. Low-income households spent a significantly smaller proportion of earnings on vegetables and fruits, choosing to purchase more frozen desserts and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) (French et al., 2019). Conversely, high-income families purchased more fruits and vegetables than SSBs and frozen desserts. A possible reason for the identified purchasing behavior is that higher diet quality foods cost more, making it difficult for lower-income households to acquire.
Restaurants, worksites, and schools also prepare meals for most Americans. Food quality in schools increased as the number of kids consuming poor diets reduced from 55.6% to 24.4% (Liu et al., 2021). The meals offered in schools allow students to access needed nutrients for development. Additionally, children consuming poor diet food in low-income families remained relatively stable with 52.7% to 49.7% but changed significantly in high-income households from 51.0% to 37.4% (Liu et al., 2021). The changes in nutrients intake were attributed to feeding whole grains, vegetables, saturated fat, SSBs, sodium, and fruits in different food sources.
The nutrient intake among adults varied significantly with sources explored. In restaurants, the difference in the diet was not statistically significant, with 65.4% to 65.2%. High-income earners’ consumption of poor quality diet from grocery stores reduced from 36.9% to 26.5% (Liu et al., 2021). The reduction of poor quality diet from grocery stores among low-income adults was insignificant as it receded from 45.8% to 41.3%. The trends in poor diet based on ethnicity also varied, with a remarkable decline occurring among non-Hispanic White individuals that decreased from 40.1% to 33.9%, stabilized for Hispanic adults at 32.7% to 28.9%, and improved considerably among non-Hispanic Black adults from 50.6% to 40.8% (Liu et al., 2021). Contrasting food sources in children and adults, it becomes clear that kids had worse diets overall than grown-ups.
Implications
Consumption of low diet foods has severe health effects associated with diabetes, stroke, and heart disease, among others. Evaluating diet quality from different food sources would help people make better decisions about their nutrients and lifestyle. The findings indicated that children benefited immensely from their meals at school because only 24.4% took low-diet. The results imply that social plans such as National School Lunch Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and School Breakfast Program helps in providing individuals with the needed nutrients (Liu et al., 2021). Policymakers, volunteers, and non-governmental organizations can use these findings to ensure all children, particularly from low-income families, get access to balanced diets in schools.
The results also revealed that restaurants had a worse percentage of poor diet in children and adults. Findings from a survey indicated that 36.6% of adults in the United States consume fast foods on a given day, and 61% eat in a restaurant at least once a week (Fryar et al., 2018; Saad, 2017). This trend exposes many Americans to more chronic diseases due to low nutrient intake. A study by Bhutani et al. (2018) concluded that every one meal/week in fast-food and restaurants consumption increased the BMI (body mass index) by 0.8 and 0.6 kg/m2, respectively. Therefore, individuals should consider replacing fast-foods and restaurant meals with home-cooked meals to lower the risk of obesity and nutrient-related illnesses.
The findings also suggested grocery stores sources had higher nutrients among all races/ethnicity and income families. The Liu et al. (2021) study attributed the reasons for quality diet in grocery stores as the increase in whole grains, low SSBs, increased total fruits, low sodium, and less saturated fats. Increasing nutritional intake can help lower the strain of medical costs due to non-communicable diseases. Government, health officials, and volunteers should educate the people about healthy food choices and items to include in their meals to meet the daily nutrients’ needs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, different food sources vary in the number of nutrients consumed by people. Home-cooked food is preferred because a person can regulate sodium, SSBs, sugars, and saturated fats. Home meals are also relatively cheaper compared to fast-food and others. A healthy menu should incorporate various food groups such as carbohydrates, whole grains, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and low-fats. Consuming a variety of fruits and low-calorie would also help reduce diet-based diseases.
References
Bhutani, S., Schoeller, D. A., Walsh, M. C., & McWilliams, C. (2018). Frequency of eating out at both fast-food and sit-down restaurants was associated with high body mass index in non-large metropolitan communities in Midwest.American Journal of Health Promotion, 32(1), 75-83.
French, S. A., Tangney, C. C., Crane, M. M., Wang, Y., & Appelhans, B. M. (2019). Nutrition quality of food purchases varies by household income: The SHoPPER study.BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1-7.
Fryar, C. D., Hughes, J. P., Herrick, K. A., & Ahluwalia, N. (2018). Fast food consumption among adults in the United States, 2013–2016. National Center for Health Statistics.
Liu, J., Micha, R., Li, Y., & Mozaffarian, D. (2021). Trends in food sources and diet quality among US children and adults, 2003-2018.JAMA Network Open, 4(4), 1-20.
Liu, J., Rehm, C. D., Onopa, J., & Mozaffarian, D. (2020). Trends in diet quality among youth in the United States, 1999-2016. JAMA Network Open, 323(12), 1161-1174.
Mancino, L., Guthrie, J., Ver Ploeg, M., & Lin, B. H. (2018). Nutritional quality of foods acquired by Americans: Findings from USDA’s national household food acquisition and purchase survey. United States Department of Agriculture.
Rehm, C. D., Peñalvo, J. L., Afshin, A., & Mozaffarian, D. (2016). Dietary intake among US adults, 1999-2012.JAMA Network Open, 315(23), 2542-2553.
Saad, L. (2017). Americans’ dining-out frequency little changed from 2008.Gallup News.
Shan, Z., Rehm, C. D., Rogers, G., Ruan, M., Wang, D. D., Hu, F. B., Mozaffarian, D., Zhang, F. F., & Bhupathiraju, S. N. (2019). Trends in dietary carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake and diet quality among US adults, 1999-2016. JAMA Network Open, 322(12), 1178-1187.