Dairy consumption among American children and adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999‐2008 (1018.1)

Dairy foods are recommended as part of healthy diet, but little is known about recent trends in dairy consumption in the United States. We described the trend in dairy consumption from 1999 to 2008 among American children (2‐19 years) and adults (20+ years). We estimated dairy consumption from a single 24‐hour diet recall using the MyPyramid Equivalents Database and the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies from 5 continuous survey cycles (1999‐2000 to 2007‐2008) of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The prevalence of dairy consumption among children stayed at about 97% over time. In 2007‐2008, 41% and 20% of the children consumed 蠅2 and 蠅3 servings/day of total dairy, respectively, which was significantly lower than that in 2003‐2004, but similar to the prevalence in 1999‐2000 (P‐quadratic<0.001). Dairy was consumed by 92% of the adults in 1999‐2000 which increased to 94% by 2007‐2008 (P‐linear<0.01). Only 14% of adults consumed 蠅3 servings/day of total dairy in 1999‐2000, which did not change significantly over time. Overall, dairy consumption was more prevalent among children aged 2‐5 years; adults who were older (65+ years), female, higher‐educated, non‐smoking, or married; and children and adults who were non‐Hispanic white, normal‐weight or affluent. From 1999 to 2008, few Americans, irrespective of age, met the dietary intake recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Grant Funding Source : This work was supported by U.S. Department of Agriculture Agreement 58–1950–0‐014, and a research gr