Nutritional quality of foods at and away from home

Food Review, May-August, 1997 by Biing-Hwan Lin, Elizabeth Frazao

Americans are eating out more than ever as their incomes rise, time for cooking becomes scarce, and dining out becomes more affordable. These factors that have favored dining out are expected to continue boosting consumer demand for food away from home.

Although Americans have become increasingly conscientious about nutrition, they seem to be less attentive to the importance of nutrition when they eat out. One reason may be that information on the nutritional content of foods away from home is not readily apparent or available to consumers. Another reason may be that consumers could pay more attention to taste, price, or entertainment value than nutrition when eating out.

The nonprofit consumer advocacy group, Center for Science in the Public Interest, has called attention to the high fat, saturated fat, and sodium contents of many menu items in popular restaurants, fast-food establishments, and movie theaters. But their study captures only part of a wide range of food choices facing consumers when they eat out.

This study analyzes data from the USDA's 1995 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII). The results show that away-from-home foods are generally higher in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium, and lower in fiber and calcium than home foods. Consequently, the increasing popularity in dining out may be a barrier for Americans to improve the nutritional quality of their diets.

A major advantage of the CSFII survey is that the data represent what Americans typically eat, at or away from home. The CSFII collects information on what, when, where, and how much Americans eat. USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) maintains a nutrient database, which is used to calculate the amount of nutrients in each food eaten. This article analyzes the 2-day individual intakes for Americans age 2 years and older. The 1995 CSFII represents 63 million children (age 2-17) and 191 million adults (age 18 and older) in the United States.

Away-from-home and home foods are defined here according to where the foods are obtained, not where they are eaten. Food at home consists of foods purchased at retail stores, such as the grocery store or supermarket. Food away from home consists of foods obtained from foodservice and entertainment establishments. Away-from-home foods are classified into four groups: "restaurants," or places with waiter service; "fast food," those self-service and carry-out eating places and cafeterias; "schools," including daycare centers and summer camps; and "others," which include vending machines, community feeding programs, and someone else's home (for adults, eating occasions at school are included in the "others" category). Meals and snacks consisting of a combination of away-from-home and home foods are classified according to the component that contributes the most calories to that particular eating occasion.

Americans Favor Fast Food When Eating Out

During 1995, Americans ate an average of 2.7 meals and 1.6 snacks each day (table 1). The number of meals eaten by Americans exhibits a U-shape pattern (drops and then increases) with respect to age, declining from 2.9 meals a day among preschoolers (age 2-5) to 2.5 meals among adolescent females, and then rising to 2.7 meals among adults age 40 and older. Preschoolers also snacked most frequently, averaging 2.1 snacks a day. Seniors age 60 and older snacked least frequently with 1.4 snacks consumed by senior males and 1.2 snacks by senior females.

[TABULAR DATA 1 NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]

On average, Americans ate out more than once for every four meals (29 percent) and more than once for every five snacks (22 percent) during 1995. Adult males age 18-39 consumed the largest share of their meals and snacks away from home. Seniors ate the fewest share of their meals and snacks away from home.

Fast foods were by far the most common source of meals away from home, accounting for 43 percent of all meals away from home (table 1). However, its relative importance varied, depending on the age group. Fast-food places were particularly popular among adults age 18-39, accounting for more than half of all away-from-home meals. Schools provided 42 percent of the away-from-home meals for children (age 6-11), but adolescents (age 12-17) consumed more meals from fast-food places than from schools.

As Americans get older, they more often eat at restaurants when dining out. Restaurants accounted for 10 percent of away-from-home meals among children, but captured more than one-third of those meals among seniors.

Although fast-food establishments provided one-quarter of all snacks away from home, "others" (which include snacks given as gifts or eaten at someone else's home) were the most popular source of away-from-home snacks, accounting for 63 percent of away-from-home snacks. Daycare centers provided about one in every three away-from-home snacks (31 percent) eaten by pre-schoolers. Fast-food establishments increase in popularity as a source of away-from-home snacks as children age, accounting for 18 percent of away-from-home snacks eaten by children age 6-11, 20 percent for adolescent males, and 28 percent for adolescent females. As adults age, fast-food places become the less popular source of away-from-home snacks, and "others" are the most popular source of away-from-home snacks.