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On a national healthy-eating index that measured compliance with U.S. dietary guidelines from 2005, the average overall diet score was only about 60 points out of 100. This failing grade "indicating Americans' diets need improvement," Bethene Ervin, PhD, RD, wrote in a National Health Statistics Report.

The Healthy Eating Index, or HEI-2005, assesses specific intake of various nutritional categories, including dark green vegetables, orange vegetables, whole grains, whole fruits, milk, meat, beans, fats, oils, sodium, alcohol, and added sugar.

To come up with the estimates, Ervin looked at data on 4,448 adults ages 20 and up from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004.

Ervin found that American adults were well below the maximum standard for all the Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2005) component scores except for total grains, beans and meats.

Scores for dark green vegetables, orange vegetables and whole grains were particularly poor, reflecting insufficient intake, Ervin reported, while those for sodium and calories from alcohol and sugars reflected excessive intakes.

Men's diets appeared unhealthier than women's diets, Ervin noted, as men had lower Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2005) scores on fruit, vegetable, and discretionary calorie intakes as well as slightly better overall diets.

Men's diets also appeared unhealthier than older patients, adults age 60 and up.

Better-educated Americans, Americans with at least a high school education, more closely complied with the national dietary recommendations than those who had less education, Ervin reported.

Ervin added that no racial or ethnic group stood out as having better dietary scores than any other.

Ervin concluded that adults need to up their intake of most of the recommended dietary components, especially dark green and orange vegetables and legumes and whole grains, while lowering the amount of sodium and calories from sugar and alcohol consumed.