Americans Are Still Eating Too Many ‘Bad’ Carbs

By | September 26, 2019

TUESDAY, Sept. 24, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Decades into the obesity epidemic, Americans are still eating far too much sugar, starch and saturated fat, a new report claims.

Since 1999, Americans have cut down a bit on “low-quality” carbs, like heavily processed grains and snack foods with added sugar. But that amounts to only a 3% drop overall, the researchers found.

And Americans have made little headway in boosting their intake of “high-quality” carbohydrates — like beans, fiber-rich whole grains, fruit and vegetables other than potatoes: Consumption rose by only 1% between 1999 and 2016.

Meanwhile, total fat intake rose by the same amount, but half was from saturated fat — which comes mainly from meat and full-fat dairy products. Americans today typically get 12% of their daily calories from saturated fat, the study found. That’s above the 10% recommended limit.

The study cannot answer any “why” questions, according to senior researcher Dr. Fang Fang Zhang, an associate professor at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, in Boston.

But Americans’ reliance on processed foods and take-out is a likely culprit.

“Our study shows that Americans are eating a lot of low-quality carbohydrates from refined grains and added sugars — 42 percent [of daily calories],” Zhang said.

“That’s a lot of calories without many nutrients,” she added. “It’s reasonable to say that’s partially related to convenience foods.”

The findings, reported in the Sept. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, are based on a long-running government nutrition survey. Between 1999 and 2016, nearly 44,000 Americans were interviewed about their eating habits.

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Over those years, Zhang’s team found, people reduced their total carb intake from an average of 52.5% of daily calories, to 50.5%. At the same time, protein and fat intake inched up.

But there was not much improvement in the national appetite for healthy carbs. And consumption of plant proteins — like nuts and beans — barely budged, from about 5.4% of calories, to 5.8%, the findings showed.

On balance, Americans still seem to love their meat and potatoes.

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