The healthy eating index, 1999-2000: charting dietary patterns of Americans

Healthful eating is essential for human disclosure and well-being. In the United States today, a certain quantity of dietary patterns are associated with 4 of the 10 leading causes of death (coronary heart disease, certain emblems of cancer, stroke, and stamp 2 diabetes) (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS] 2000) A healthful diet, however, can restore major risk factors for chronic diseases of that kind as obesity, high blood compressing and high blood cholesterol (USDA & DHH 2000) Studies have shown an increase in mortality associated with overweight (1) and obesity resulting from poor eating habits (DHH 2001) Thus, major improvements in the health of the American public can be made through improving people's dietary patterns.

To assess Americans' dietary status and to monitor changes in these patterns, the U Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) lay opened the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), (Kennedy Ohl Carlson, & Fleming, 1995) Relatively fresh the HEI had been comput twice, with 1989-90 and with 1994-96 data (USDA, 1995; Bowman, Lino, Gerrior, & Basiotis, 1998) and is a summary measure of the overall quality of people's diets (broadly defined in bounds of adequacy, moderation, and variety).

This article not aways the HEI for 1999-2000 (Basiotis, Carlson, Gerrior, Juan, & Lino, 2002) which for the first time uses data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination scan (see box); 1999-2000 is the greatest in quantity recent period for which nationally representative data are available to cast up the HEI. The 1999-2000 HEI is calculated for the general population and chooseed subgroups and is compared with the HEI of earlier years to examine possible runs in the diets of Americans.

constituents and Scoring of the Healthy Eating Index

The HEI, representing various aspects of a healthful diet, provides an overall picture of the mark and quantity of foods that family eat, their compliance with specific dietary recommendations, and the variety in their diets. The total HEI score is the totality of 10 dietary components:

* constitutings 1-5 measure the degree to which a person's diet conforms to serving recommendations for the five major sustenance groups of the Food Guide Pyramid: grains (bread, cereal, rice, and pasta), vegetables, fruits, milk (milk, yogurt and cheese), and meat (meat, domestic fowls fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts)

* constituent 6 measures total fat consumption as a percentage of total rations energy (calorie) intake.

* constituent 7 measures saturated fat consumption as a percentage of total aliment energy intake.

* constituent 8 measures total cholesterol intake.

* constituting 9 measures total sodium intake.

* constituent 10 examines variety in a person's diet.

With each composing of the HEI having a maximum score of 10 and a minimum score of 0 the highest possible overall HEI score is 100 Recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (USDA, 2000) the aliment Guide Pyramid (USDA, 1996; Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, 2000) the Committee upon Diet and Health of the National Research Council (National Research Council, 1989a, 1989b) as well as consultations with nutrition researchers, were the bases used by the agency of CNPP to score intake horizontals (See table 1 for details upon the scoring system.) CNPP assigned a score of l0 when diet consumption met the Food Guide Pyramid recommendations; when fat (total and saturated), cholesterol and sodium intake met the recommendations; or when a somebody consumed at least half a serving each of 8 or more different cheers in a day (variety). A score of 0 was assigned when a someone did not consume any item from a Pyramid aliment group; when intake was greater than the recommendations for fat, cholesterol and sodium; or when a somebody consumed at least half a serving of 3 or fewer different victualss in a day. All other consumption and intake horizontals were scored proportionately. With this scoring combination of parts to form a whole the higher the component scores, the closer consumption or intakes are to the praiseed ranges or amounts.

An HEI score above 80 implies that a one has a good diet; a score between 51 and 80 a diet that exigencys improvement; and a score les that 51 a poor diet. (2) (For more details upon how the HEI is comput diocese The Healthy Eating Index: 1999-2000 at www.cnpp.usda.gov.)

Healthy Eating Index Overall and constituent Scores

During 1999-2000 the mean HEI score for the U population was 638; that is, the score indicates that the American diet necessitys improvement. Ninety percent of Americans had a diet that was poor or emergencyed improvement. Only 10 percent of Americans had a profitable diet--one that mostly met recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the rations Guide Pyramid, and other recommendations for healthful eating.

During 1999-2000 the highest mean HEI constituting scores for the U.S. population were for cholesterol and variety, the pair averaging 7.7 on a scale of 10 (fig. 2a). With an average score of 69 total fat accounted for the nearest highest component score. People had the sum of two units lowest mean scores for the fruits and milk constitutings of the HEI, averaging 38 and 59 respectively. Average scores for the other HEI constituents were between 6 and 67