Healthy Eating Index

There are many ways that researchers measure people's diets to better understand the obesity epidemic and prevent it the trend from increasing. Two common methods include statistical analysis and scoring an individual's diet. Scoring an individual's diet is based on preset criteria and looks at food intake quality.

The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) was originally created in 1995, and recently in 2005, a new HEI was created to complement the release of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The HEI is a measure of an individual's overall diet quality. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion developed the HEI to assess how well American diets comply with the 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food Guide Pyramid.

There are 10 dietary components that the HEI measures to obtain a score out of 100 points. The score breakdown consists of “good,” “fair,” and “poor.” Any score greater than 80 is considered “good,” a score between 51 and 80 is considered “fair,” and any score below 51 is considered “poor.”

In general, the HEI-2005 is a standardized tool that can be used to monitor nutrition, conduct research studies, and educate consumers. Components 1 to 5 assess how well an individual follows the food guide pyramid. Components 1 to 5 will give a score of 10 points for each of the five food groups included in an individual's diet, for a maximum of 50 points. Component 6 assesses total fat consumption. If fat consumed is less than or equal to 30 percent of total calories, 10 points are awarded.

Component 7 assesses saturated fat. If saturated fat is 10 percent or less of total calories, 10 points are awarded. Component 8 assesses the intake of cholesterol. If an individual ingests less than or equal to 300 milligrams of cholesterol, 10 points are awarded. Component 9 takes a look at sodium intake. If an individual's diet contains 2,400 milligrams of sodium or less, 10 points are awarded. Component 10 looks at variety in a diet. If at least half of a serving of eight or more items from different food groups are eaten during the day, 10 points are awarded.

The USDA will sometimes use the HEI on national food consumption surveys, such as the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey [Page 355](NHANES) and Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII). The HEI is used for individuals 2 years of age and older. Some of the past HEI findings are that most Americans need to improve their diets, specifically within the fruit and dairy groups. It also determined that; the HEI improves with education, HEI is only modestly affected by income, and women tend to have higher scores than men. Reports from 1999–2000 give a mean HEI score for the U.S. population of 63.8. Ten percent of the population had what was considered a good diet, and 16 percent had a poor diet. The most current information for a summary comes from 1999–2000, which suggests that American diets have slightly improved from 1989 to 1999–2000. In 1989, the HEI score for all people 2 years old and over was 61.5, compared with 63.8 in 1996 and 1999–2000.

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