Dietary Guidelines for Americans Dietary Patterns Are Associated with Significant Improvements in Healthy Life As Assessed by the Health Nutritional Index (HENI)

Abstract Objectives To assess health burden as measured by disability adjusted life years (DALY) of current US adult diets and of Dietary Guidelines for American (DGA) recommended diets. Methods A nationally representative sample of Americans aged 25 + years old (N = 13,331) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2016 database were used to determine current self-reported dietary patterns and to estimated health burden (DALY) in minutes of healthy life using the Health Nutritional Index (HENI), an epidemiology-based multiplicatively adjusted nutritional assessment tool based on 14 dietary risk factors identified in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD). Additionally, we estimated the health burden/benefit of DGA recommended dietary patterns for 2000 kcal/day: 1) Healthy US Style; 2) Healthy Vegetarian Style; and 3) Healthy Mediterranean Style. The maximum benefit if the threshold intakes in GBD were consumed was also evaluated. Results The currently consumed diet was associated with a gain of 0.2 minutes of healthy life/day. Current diets in females were associated with a gain of 5 minutes of heathy life/day while in males current diets were associated with a decrease of 4 minutes of healthy life/day. The Healthy US Style diets was associated with a gain of 32 minutes of healthy life/day while the Healthy Vegetarian Style and Healthy Mediterranean Style diets were associated with gains of 56 and 38 minutes of healthy life/day, respectively. The maximal benefit, consuming threshold intakes in the GBD, was associated with a gain of 84 minutes of healthy life/day. The largest components of the gains were due to increases in intake of fruit (15–19 min/day), whole grains (11 min/d), vegetables (6 min/d) and milk (4–6 min/day); the increases fish in the Healthy Mediterranean Style diet provided additional benefits (10 min/day). Conclusions Results indicate that DGA recommended diets may provide significant improvements in healthy life over current diets. Funding Sources National Dairy Council.