Americans are eating healthier, Obama administration officials said today as they released a study on American eating habits from 2005 to 2010.

The researchers found:

• Use of nutrition information, including the nutrition facts panel found on most food packages, increased in recent years. Forty-two percent of working-age adults and 57 percent of older adults reported using the panel most or all of the time when making food choices. When asked about nutrition information in restaurants, 76 percent of working-age adults reported they would use the information if available.
• Reduced consumption of food away from home (such as at restaurants and fast food chains) accounted for 20 percent of the improvements in diet quality. A recent study found that during the recession of 2007-2009, overall food expenditures in U.S. households declined approximately 5 percent, mostly due to a 12.9 percent decline in spending on food away from home.
• Calories consumed through food away from home dropped by 127 calories per day during this time period, and the average person ate three fewer meals and 1.5 fewer snacks per month away from home.
• Attitudes toward food and nutrition are changing. Compared with 2007, the percentage of working-age adults who believed they have the ability to change their body weight increased by three percentage points in 2010.
• During the same time period, the report shows there was little change in the importance that price played when making choices at the grocery store, but working-age adults placed more importance on nutrition when choosing items to purchase.

• USDA Economic Research Service — Changes in Eating Patterns and Diet Quality Among Working-Age Adults, 2005-2010
• — Summary