Finding Health Data and Statistics: Nutrition & Exercise

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. The survey has been conducted since 1971 and is now conducted annually. It is one of the most important sources of national nutrition statistics.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Nutrition Resources and Publications provides a list of links to relevant studies and data collection efforts.

United States Department of Agriculture
The Mission of the Nutrient Data Laboratory is "To develop authoritative food composition databases and state of the art methods to acquire, evaluate, compile and disseminate composition data on foods and dietary supplements available in the United States."

Food Data Central (which integrated the National Nutrient Database in 2019) provides nutrient profile data and links to related agricultural and experimental research. Enter a food in the search box and get a detailed analyses of nutrients and minerals.

What We Eat in America is the dietary intake interview component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

The USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion provides a Healthy Eating Index (HEI) -- a measure of diet quality that assesses conformance to federal dietary guidance. The Center links to dietary guidelines, reports and statistical tables.

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.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

US Physical Activity Statistics

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.

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

State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables

National and state-level information on how many  fruits and vegetables people are eating, and highlights key areas within communities and schools that can be improved to increase fruit and vegetable access, availability, and affordability.