American Diet Lacking in Vegetables, Fruits, and Whole Grains
photo from Freepik
by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
The recently published Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee includes a sobering examination of the quality of the American diet.
In terms of vegetables:
- 78% of those ages 1 year and older have intakes of vegetables that are below recommendations.
- 93% are below recommendations for red and orange vegetables
- 83% are below recommendations for beans, peas, and lentils
- 79% are below recommendations for dark-green vegetables.
About 80% of Americans ages 1 year and older eat less than the recommended amount of fruit on a daily basis.
Only 2% of those ages 1 year and older meet or exceed the recommended number of servings of whole grains. That means that 98% of people don’t eat enough whole grain products. Ironically, 93% of those ages 1 year and older meet or exceed the recommendations for refined grains.
It’s not surprising that the report identifies potassium, dietary fiber, and calcium, which are found widely in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, as three of the nutrients of public health concern due to underconsumption.
We do not have separate numbers to tell us how vegans and vegetarians are doing, We suspect that those Americans who are eating more vegetables including red and orange vegetables, beans/peas/lentils, and dark-green vegetables; more fruits; and more whole grains and fewer refined grains would be much less likely to have inadequate intakes of potassium, dietary fiber, and calcium.
To read more about good sources of calcium for vegans see Calcium in the Vegan Diet.
To read more about good sources of potassium for vegans see Thinking About Potassium
To read more about U.S. food consumption see:
