CDC study finds significant increases in American's consumption of calories, carbohydrates and fats.

A new study has found that over 30 years, American's eating habits now include many more calories, carbohydrates and fats are eaten daily. From 1971 to 2000, the study found, women increased their caloric intake by 22 percent, men by 7 percent. Much of the change was found to be due to an increase in the amount of carbohydrates we have been eating. The findings may reinforce the current trend among those sometimes known as "carb-avoids," of reducing or even eliminating foods like breads and pasta.

And while the percentage of calories Americans get from fat, especially saturated fats, has decreased, the numbers might be deceiving. The actual amount of fat eaten on a daily basis has gone up. It just makes up a smaller percentage of the total caloric pie now that we are eating so many more carbs. Cookies, pasta, soda and other carbohydrates appear to be mostly to blame. Among women, carbs jumped from about 45 percent of the daily caloric intake to almost 52 percent. For men, they grew from 42 percent to 49.

Part of the problem, some experts say, may stem from the traditional dietary advice to steer clear of fatty foods. That advice, they say, helped set off an explosion of "fat-free" carbohydrate-laden foods that Americans mistakenly believed they could eat with few consequences.

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Graham