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Michigan State University

Health Data & Statistics Research Guide: Nutrition, Obesity, & Exercise

Obesity in the US

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Adult Physical Activity Information
The purpose of this site is to describe the history of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) adult physical activity questions and provide tools for identifying, accessing, and using NHIS physical activity data, collected since 1975.

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
This CDC study is the world’s largest, on-going telephone health survey system, tracking health conditions and risk behaviors in the United States yearly since 1984. Overweight/obesity classification by body weight index is one if the risk indicators tracked in this survey.

Exercise or Physical Activity
Faststats from the CDC.  Includes a list of relevant tables from Health, United States and links to related resources.

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
This CDC survey is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States.  Weight is one of the indicators tracked in this survey.  Navigate to the Survey Results and Products section for reports and tables.

Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity: Data and Statistics
CDC tools for accessing the latest available data and statistics on obesity-related factors.

Overweight and Obesity: Data and Statistics
This guide from the CDC provides links to reports on trends in adults and children.  Also includes U.S. Obesity Trends by State or Ethnicity, which includes color-coded U.S. maps.

Overweight Prevalence
Faststats from the CDC provide quick links to relevant tables and resources.

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six types of health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth and adults

Nutrition in the US

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, 2018

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States.

United States Department of Agriculture: Agriculture Research Service

Methods and Application of Food Composition Laboratory (formed by consolidation of the Nutrient Data Laboratory and the Food Composition and Methods Development Laboratory)
The mission of the Methods and Application of Food Composition Laboratory (MAFCL) is to identify critical food composition needs for researchers, policymakers, food producers and consumers.

FoodData Central (includes integration of former USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference as of April 2019.)
Look up the nutrient value of thousands of foods in USDA's on-line searchable database.

United States Department of Agriculture: Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion

Healthy Eating Index
The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) is a measure of diet quality that assesses conformance to federal dietary guidance.
This site includes reports with statistical tables and archived data files.

Nutrition Content of the U.S. Food Supply
The Nutrient Content of the U.S. Food Supply is a historical data series, beginning in 1909, on the amounts of nutrients per capita per day in food available for consumption. An interactive version of this series allows users to query nutrient and pyramid servings information online.