Standard American Diet

The Western pattern diet, also called Western dietary pattern, the Standard American Diet, or the meat-sweet diet, is a dietary pattern originally identified through principal components analysis or factor analysis to identify commonly associated foods in the diets of several independent cohorts in the United States. It is characterized by higher intakes of red and processed meat, butter, high-fat dairy products, eggs, refined grains, white potatoes, and high-sugar drinks. It is contrasted with a healthy diet found in the same populations, which has higher levels of fruits, vegetables, whole-grain foods, poultry and fish.

The western-versus-eastern dichotomy has become less relevant as such a diet is no longer "foreign" to any global region (just as traditional East Asian cuisine is no longer "foreign" to the west), but the term is still a well-understood shorthand in medical literature, regardless of where the diet is found. Other dietary patterns described in the medical research include "drinker" and "meat-eater" patterns. Because of the variability in diets, individuals are usually classified not as simply "following" or "not following" a given diet, but instead by ranking them according to how closely their diets line up with each pattern in turn. The researchers then compare the outcomes between the group that most closely follows a given pattern to the group that least closely follows a given pattern.

This diet is "rich in red meat, dairy products, processed and artificially sweetened foods, and salt, with minimal intake of fruits, vegetables, fish, legumes, and whole grains."

The typical American diet is about 50% carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 35% fat. These macronutrient intakes fall within the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (ADMR) for adults identified by the Food and Nutrition Board of the United States Institute of Medicine as "associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases while providing adequate intakes of essential nutrients," which are 45-65% carbohydrate, 10-35% protein, and 20-35% fat as a percentage of total energy. However, the nutritional quality of the specific foods comprising those macronutrients is often poor, as with the "Western" pattern discussed above. Complex carbohydrates such as starch are believed to be more healthy than the sugar so frequently consumed in the Standard American Diet.

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