ComstockA recent ERS study of Americans' diets found
that low-income groups tended to have lower quality diets than high-income
groups. Not only does a higher income expand food choices, it is
also related to factors that tend to improve diet quality, including
higher education, better access to well-stocked grocery stores,
and greater diet and health knowledge. This result, however, did
not hold for children—diet quality among U.S. children did
not vary by income.
The ERS study is based on the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), as computed
by USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion using
consumption data from the 1988-94 National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey. The HEI, scored from 0 to 100, measures an individual’s
quality of diet based on 10 components, with higher scores closely
conforming to recommendations of the Food Guide Pyramid
prior to its 2005 revision.
Twelve percent of Americans age 2 and older had "good"
diets (an HEI score above 80), while the rest had diets that were
poor in quality or needed improvement. Only 8 percent of people
with very low household income (below 131 percent of poverty level)
had good diets. Limiting fat and sodium intake and consuming the
recommended servings of fruits and vegetables were particularly
difficult dietary tasks for the lowest income Americans.
The diet quality of Americans age 60 and older varied the most
by income status. Although older Americans' dietary quality was
higher on average than that of the general population, their diet
quality suffered the most as income fell. Nineteen percent of older
Americans with very low household income had poor diet quality (an
HEI score below 51), compared with 13 percent of low-income (between
131 and 185 percent of poverty level) older adults, and 9 percent
of those with incomes above 185 percent poverty level.
The proportion of children who had poor diets did not vary by income.
Overall, 16 percent of school-age children (ages 5-17) had poor
diets. A number of factors could contribute to this finding. First,
child nutrition programs, such as WIC, free or reduced-price school
lunches, and subsidized meals in day care, could reduce variation
in diet quality by income. Second, parents and other child-care
providers may pay more attention to the dietary recommendations
for children under their care than for themselves, and it may be
easier to enforce good eating habits for one's children than to
adhere to them oneself. Evidence suggests that as children age and
make more of their own food choices, they, too, may find it harder
to keep good eating habits—only 8 percent of children ages
2-4 had poor diets, versus 16 percent of school-age children.
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