Research
Macro partitioning
Despite improvements, US adults continue to consume disproportionately high energy from low-quality carbohydrates and saturated fat remains above recommended levels.
Do not assume that 'healthy eating' is complete. Actively monitor and reduce your intake of added sugars and saturated fats, as these remain the primary dietary challenges for the average US adult.
StrongQualifiesVERY_HIGH confidence
Despite improvements in macronutrient composition and diet quality, continued high intake of low-quality carbohydrates and saturated fat remained.
Why this rating
Based on the same large, nationally representative dataset.
Source
Trends in Dietary Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat Intake and Diet Quality Among US Adults, 1999-2016
Zhilei Shan et al. · JAMA · 2019
DOI 10.1001/jama.2019.13771
cross_sectional · n=43996Cited 567×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- US adults significantly improved diet quality between 1999 and 2016 by decreasing low-quality carbohydrates (primarily added sugars) and increasing high-quality carbohydrates (primarily whole grains), plant protein, and polyunsaturated fats.Strong
- Socioeconomic disparities exist in dietary improvements, with higher-income and higher-education individuals showing greater improvements in macronutrient composition and diet quality.Good
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