Healthy People 2020: Target setting for the dietary intake objectives

Introduction. Healthy People 2020 provides health objectives for the nation. National food and nutrient intake objectives are chosen for their public health significance, and enable assessment of the U.S. population's progress in meeting dietary recommendations. Seven Healthy People 2020 dietary intake objectives address topics of increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and calcium; and reducing consumption of sodium, saturated fat and calories from solid fats and added sugars. Progress on these objectives will be assessed using U.S. population mean intakes as the main tracking measures. Methods. In 2010, an interagency work group used a systematic evidence-based approach to propose the Healthy People 2020 targets for the dietary intake objectives with the aim that they would be challenging but potentially achievable, and meaningful with regard to improving public health. For each objective, the target setting approach considered baseline estimates (from NHANES 2001-2004 or 2003-2006) in relation to dietary recommendations, past intake trends and potentially achievable shift in the U.S. population usual intake distribution as tracked by the mean intakes, and target applicability to subpopulations. Results. Based on evidence-based approach, the Healthy People 2020 targets ranged from the 75th to 95th percentile values of the baseline usual intake distribution for objectives aimed at increasing consumption, and from the 10th to 25th percentile values for objectives aimed at reducing consumption. Discussion. The systematic evidence-based approach for setting these 2020 targets was recommended as a preferable method compared to the standard default 2020 target setting method of 10 percent improvement over the baseline.