Americans Should Cut Down on Snack Foods

According to the Associated Press, Diets in America are a little less sweet and a little crunchier, but there's still too much sugar, white bread and artery clogging fat.

The authors estimated there was a modest improvement over 16 years on the government's healthy eating index, from estimated scores of 56 to 58. The top score is 100.

Diets are still too heavy on foods that can contribute to heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other prevalent U.S. health problems.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The results are from an analysis of federal health surveys involving nearly 44,000 adults.

The goal is to get Americans to cut down on snack foods, hot dogs, fatty beef, butter and other foods containing saturated fats. The study found these fats increased from 11.5% to almost 12% of daily calories.