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National study finds diets remain poor for most American children; disparities persist

Researchers find only modest improvements, including less sugar, more whole grains

A research team at Tufts University analysed the diets of more than 31,000 U.S. youth, 2-19 years old, based on national data across nine cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2016. They assessed each child’s diet as poor, intermediate or ideal, based on three validated dietary scores, all of which are designed to measure adherence to accepted nutritional guidelines.

Dariush Mozaffarian, Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and one of the lead researchers said: “Our findings of slowly improving, yet still poor, diets in U.S. children are consistent with the slowing of rises in childhood obesity but not any reversal. Understanding these updated trends in diet quality is crucial to informing priorities to help improve the eating habits and long-term health of all of America’s youth.”

Read the full story here: National study finds diets remain poor for most American children; disparities persist

Read the study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association here: Trends in Diet Quality Among Youth in the United States, 1999-2016