One adult in ten eats enough fruit and vegetables, and 2% of teenagers eat enough vegetables

Healthy eating patterns help people live longer, strengthen immune systems and
produce fewer chronic diseases. Healthy eating emphasises **fruit, vegetables,
whole grains, low-fat or fat-free dairy and lean protein**, and limits **added
sugar, saturated fat and sodium**.

That is the guidance. Here is the distance to it.

How far off the recommendations actually are

Two per cent. Not a minority falling short of an ideal — a
recommendation that 98 teenagers in 100 do not meet.

Added sugar

Federal guidelines recommend that Americans aged 2 and over keep added sugars
below 10% of total daily calories. On a 2,000-calorie diet that is **200
calories — about 12 teaspoons**.

In 2017–2018, average intake was 17 teaspoons, for children and adults
alike. Roughly 40% above a ceiling most people have never been told exists in
teaspoons.

Why this is treated as an access problem

**Many people have limited access to affordable, convenient places offering
healthier food** — particularly people in lower-income urban neighbourhoods,
rural areas and tribal communities, and some racial and ethnic groups. **In
2021, nearly 34 million US residents lived in food-insecure households.**

**When healthy items are not readily available, people settle for unhealthy
ones.** So the lever the CDC recommends to states and communities is not
another campaign telling people to eat vegetables — it is **food service and
nutrition guidelines** applied where food is sold, served and distributed:
cafeterias, vending, institutional catering, food distribution.

Changing what is on offer reaches the 98% in a way that changing the advice
has not.

*Note: the Food Service Guidelines nutrition standards referenced here align
with the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and are being reviewed
against the 2025–2030 guidelines.*

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.