Nutritional quality of foods at and away from home

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

The American Health Foundation recommends a dietary fiber intake of "age plus five" for those age 2-20, and the Food and Drug Administration uses 11.5 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories as its Daily Value for nutrition labeling. Dividing recommended fiber intakes by reported caloric intakes, estimated average benchmark fiber densities increase with age, from 5.7 grams per 1,000 calories among preschoolers to 11.5 grams per 1,000 calories among those age 20 and above (tables 3 and 4).

The fiber density in both home and away-from-home foods eaten by children and adults fell substantially short of the benchmark densities. For example, the benchmark fiber density for adults is 33 percent higher than the fiber density in home foods and 84 percent higher than the level in away-from-home foods. Consequently, only about one in six adults met the recommended intake for dietary fiber. With away-from-home foods (excluding school meals) providing lower fiber density than home foods, the increased tendency to eat out could reduce fiber intake among children and adults.

Wiser Food Choices Needed, Especially When Eating Out

The most recent data on national food consumption patterns, the 1995 CSFII, indicate that away-from-home foods are generally higher in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium, and lower in fiber and calcium than home foods. Furthermore, people tend to consume more calories when eating away from home than when eating at home. In 1995, food away from home accounted for 27 percent of eating occasions but 34 percent of total calories. More than 40 percent of those away-from-home calories were obtained from fast foods. Food away from home is especially popular among adult males age 18-39, who obtained 45 percent of their calories from away-from-home sources. Fast foods alone contributed 23 percent of the group's total caloric intake.

The benchmark measure of nutrient density allows us to evaluate the quality of foods with respect to recommended intakes of particular nutrients. The CSFII 1995 data show that fat, saturated fat, and sodium densities in home and away-from-home foods exceed the benchmark measure, implying that Americans need to reduce fat, saturated fat, and sodium intakes at, and especially away from, home.

Americans have a long way to go before reaching the recommended fiber intake in their diets, as the fiber density in home and away-from-home foods falls substantially below the benchmark. While cholesterol intake is not a problem for many Americans, adult males have to reduce their cholesterol intake at and away from home in order to meet the recommendation. Insufficient calcium is a major dietary problem facing adolescent females and adult females, and the data show that none of the foods selected by consumers in five food outlets have sufficient calcium to meet their recommended calcium intakes at reported energy intake levels.

The increased popularity of dining out presents a barrier for Americans to continue improving their diets. Food purchased away from home generally contain more of the nutrients overconsumed and contain less of the nutrients underconsumed by Americans. Therefore, nutrition policy, education, and promotion strategies focused on improving the nutritional quality of food away from home are needed. Improvements in the nutritional quality of school meals, under USDA's School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children, are expected to help reduce children's intake of fat, saturated fat, and sodium. Past efforts by some fast-food chains and restaurants to market nutritionally improved products have been unsuccessful. It appears that consumers are less attentive to the importance of nutrition when they eat out. Consumers need to pay attention to the nutritional quality and portion sizes of foods eaten at and away from home if they want to meet the recommended Dietary Guidelines. Dietary changes come only gradually and require strong commitment from consumers, with educational assistance from health professionals and the Government.