Slightly more than 63 percent of Americans surveyed by Gallup last year said they have healthy diets. The figure, based on more than 177,000 interviews as part of a Gallup project with Sharecare, was the lowest since the project began in 2008 and was the sixth year in a row of a decline from the peak of 67.7 percent in 2010.
“The link between unhealthy eating and chronic diseases underscores the importance of having good food habits,” said Gallup. “But Americans do not appear to be making positive changes to their diets.” For its survey, Gallup asked people if they ate a healthy diet all day “yesterday.”
Adults who reported a healthy diet were one-third less likely to currently have depression than those who did not say they ate healthy foods — 8 percent vs 12 percent. Healthy eating also was associated with a reduced prevalence of obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes based on what poll participants told surveyors.