Factors Affecting Grain Consumption: Evidence from 1999-2002 NHANES Survey Data

The latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that half of all daily grain servings be whole grains. Meeting the new guidelines may be a tall order for most Americans. Targeting nutrition messages that educate people on how to comply with these new recommendations requires a solid understanding of who needs to boost their whole grain intake. It also requires a better understanding of the way people consume grain-based foods - which types of foods, eating occasion and locations are more conducive to whole grain intake and which are more conducive to refined grain intake. This analysis makes use of the most recent NHANES data (1999-2002). We use data from the dietary recall and link it to a nutrient database that provides the number of food group servings for each food consumed in the 24 hour period to estimate how individuals' consumption of both total and whole grain correlate with socio-economic factors, specific health indicators, and behaviors related to food choices.