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What Is the Issue?

Food prepared outside the home (food away from home, FAFH) comprises a significant share 

of U.S. consumers’ food expenditures, and FAFH intake has been linked to lower diet quality. 

Between 2006 and 2009, food spending declined 5 percent, due mainly to a 12.9-percent decline 

in expenditures on FAFH. This decline could have led to improvements in overall diet quality. 

However, the net effect on dietary intake and diet quality cannot be ascertained from expenditure 

data alone. This report documents how eating patterns and diet quality changed among workingage adults (those born between 1946 and 1985) from 2005 to 2010, a period that includes the 

recession of 2007-09, and explores the extent to which the change in diet quality can be attributed 

to changes in FAFH consumption.

What Did the Study Find?

The study found that changes in caloric intake were larger between 2005-06 and 2009-10 than 

between 2005-06 and 2007-08. In particular, the analysis found that:

• On average, daily caloric intake declined by 118 calories (about 5 percent) between 2005-06 

and 2009-10 among working-age adults. 

• Once the increase in age and other small shifts in demographic characteristics in this cohort 

are accounted for, the estimated change in caloric intake falls to 78 calories per day, or 3.4 

percent relative to 2005-06.

Consumption of FAFH calories declined more than total daily caloric intake. After accounting 

for changes in age and other demographics in the cohort over the study period, the analysis 

revealed that between 2005-06 and 2009-10:

• FAFH intake fell by 127 calories per day, and the share of calories from FAFH declined 4.75 

percentage points, from 34.7 percent in 2005-06. 

• Daily fast-food calories (a portion of all FAFH) fell by 53, and the share of calories from fast 

food declined 1.8 percentage points, from 14.4 percent in 2005-06.

• Total FAFH meals consumed per day fell by 0.10 (from an average of 0.87 in 2005-06), and 

total FAFH snacks fell by 0.05 per day (from 0.41 per day in 2005-06).

Eating at home more often was associated with having more family meals.

• Working-age adults living with children under age 17 and older adults living in households 

with two or more people reported an increase in the number of meals eaten with the majority 

of their family.

• The number of those meals that were home-cooked (rather than from FAFH) also increased.

United States Department of Agriculture

A report summary from the Economic Research Service January 2014

ERS is a primary source 

of economic research and 

analysis from the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, 

providing timely information on economic and policy 

issues related to agriculture, 

food, the environment, and 

rural America.

Find the full report 

at www.ers.usda.

gov/publications/erreconomic-researchreport/err-161.aspx

Jessica E. Todd

Economic

Research

Service

Economic 

Research

Report

Number 161

January 2014

United States Department of Agriculture

Changes in Eating Patterns and 

Diet Quality Among Working-Age 

Adults, 2005-2010

Jessica E. Todd

Changes in Eating Patterns and Diet Quality 

Among Working-Age Adults, 2005-2010
There were significant changes in overall diet quality between 2005-06 and 2009-10 (after accounting for changes 

in age and other demographics in the cohort over the study period):

• The share of total calories from fat declined 1.12 percentage points (by 3.3 percent relative to 2005-06), and the 

share of total calories from saturated fat declined 0.67 percentage points (by 5.9 percent relative to 2005-06). 

• Intake of cholesterol declined by 24 milligrams per day (by 7.9 percent relative to 2005-06), while fiber intake 

increased 1.2 grams per day (by 7.5 percent relative to 2005-06).

• The quality—in terms of saturated fat and fiber content—of both at-home and away-from-home foods 

increased between 2005-06 and 2009-10. 

• The cholesterol content of FAFH improved over the period.

Subgroup analysis revealed some differences in changes over the period: 

• The decline in calories from FAFH, the share of calories from FAFH and fast food, and the number of FAFH 

meals per day was smaller among adults with no college education than among those with at least some college. 

• There were no differences between men with no college education and all adults with at least some college 

education.

• The calories and meals from FAFH did not change among older adults (born before 1946). This group experienced decreases in the share of calories from saturated fat and total cholesterol intake, but these changes were 

smaller than those among the working-age cohort.

The analysis showed that less than 20 percent of the improvements in diet quality could be attributed to decreased 

FAFH consumption. Responses to survey questions about diet behavior and nutrition (comparable only in the 

2007-08 and 2009-10 surveys) suggested other factors influencing some of the improvement in diet quality: 

• In 2009-10, compared with 2007-08, working-age and older adults were less likely to answer that thinness or 

fatness is something people are born with, suggesting that more individuals recognize weight is within individual control.

• More adults reported using the Nutrition Facts Panel (NFP) and package health claims always or most of the 

time when shopping for food in 2009-10 compared with 2007-08. Among working-age adults, 34 percent used 

the NFP always or most of the time in 2007-08 versus 42 percent in 2009-10. Among older adults, the share 

went from 51 to 57 percent between the two periods. Use of health claims always or most of the time increased 

from 18 to 31 percent for working-age adults and from 36 to 47 percent for older adults. 

• Working-age adults showed increased concern for nutrition during grocery shopping between 2007-08 and 

2009-10.

• Working-age adults were more likely to rate their own diet quality as excellent, very good, or good, as 

compared with fair or poor, in 2009-10 relative to 2007-08. 

How Was the Study Conducted?

This report used data from three rounds of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 

which provide a nationally representative sample of adults before, during, and after the Great Recession (unemployment, a likely influence on food spending, was actually higher after than during the recession). Mean caloric 

intake, calories from FAFH and fast food, the share of calories from FAFH and fast food, the total number of 

meals and snacks consumed in a day, as well as the number of meals and snacks from FAFH, were compared 

across the three periods. In addition, four measures of diet quality were studied: percent of calories from fat and 

from saturated fat, total cholesterol intake, and total fiber intake. Regression analysis was used to account for 

increasing age among the cohort and other small changes in demographics that may have occurred in estimating 

how much of the change in diet quality could be explained by changes in FAFH consumption. Responses to 

consumer behavior questions from the Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey in NHANES were also studied to 

explore whether there were changes in consumer attitudes toward nutrition and health over the period. 

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