Monterey, CA Americans Are Consuming Less Calories

After decades of increasing their daily caloric intake, Americans are now eating less, which hopefully will reduce the number of diabetes cases.   Calories consumed daily by the typical American adult, which peaked around 2003, are in the midst of their first sustained decline since federal statistics began to track the subject, more than 40 years ago.   The declines cut across most major demographic groups — including higher- and lower-income families, and blacks and whites — though they vary somewhat by group.  The reversal appears to stem from people’s growing realization that they were harming their health by eating and drinking too much.  The awareness began to build in the late 1990s, thanks to a burst of scientific research about the costs of obesity, and to public health campaigns in recent years.  Still, more than a third of American adults are still considered obese, putting them at increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.  Americans are still eating far too few fruits and vegetables and far too much junk food, even if they are eating somewhat less of it, experts say.  Hopefully, this trend will reverse, resulting in a reduction in overweight Americans.