Survey: Fewer Americans reported healthy eating in 2013

In 2013, 63.8% of Americans reported they ate healthily all day yesterday. This is more than two percentage points lower than reported in any year since Gallup began asking this question in 2008. The previous low was 66.1% in 2008 and 2011. This decline in healthy eating last year is perhaps not surprising given that the U.S. obesity rate rose to a new high of 27.1% in 2013.

Food prices in the U.S. increased in 2013 because of major droughts in 2012. These droughts may have led to slightly fewer Americans reporting that they had enough money to buy the food they needed over the past 12 months. Americans were also slightly less likely to report having easy access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables in their area, which could also be related to the nationwide droughts.

Despite a decrease in the percentage reporting easy to access fresh fruits and vegetables, frequent produce consumption essentially remained unchanged. In 2013, 57.7% reported that there were at least four days in the last week in which they ate the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables, which is at least five servings. This is on par with the 57.8% measured in 2012 – which matched the previous high from 2010.