TABLE 3.

Trends in energy density of meals and snacking (food, beverages, or both) occasions in U.S. adults aged ≥19 y old

	1977–1978	1989–1991	1994–1996	2003–2006
Age 19–39 y	kJ/g1
Total snacking	3.73	4.10a	4.15a	4.44a
Total meals	4.52	4.52	4.40	4.56c
Snacking food	12.06	12.35	11.85	12.31
Meals food	7.87	8.00	7.70b	8.21ac
Snacking beverages	1.26	1.21	1.30	1.47abc
Meals beverages	1.30	1.30	1.30	1.38abc
Age 40–59 y
Total snacking	3.43	3.43	3.89ab	3.94ab
Total meals	4.06	4.06	3.98	4.06
Snacking food	11.39	12.10a	11.51b	11.81
Meals food	7.33	7.37	7.24	7.70abc
Snacking beverages	1.00	0.92	1.00	1.13b
Meals beverages	0.92	0.96	0.96	1.00a
Age ≥60 y
Total snacking	4.23	4.23	4.52	4.73a
Total meals	3.98	3.77a	3.77a	3.85ac
Meals food	6.99	6.57a	6.49a	6.99bc
Snacking beverages	1.30	1.30	1.26	1.21
Meals beverages	0.88	0.96	0.88	0.92
Age ≥19 y
Total snacking	3.73	3.89	4.15a	4.31ab
Total meals	4.23	4.19	4.10a	4.23c
Snacking food	11.60	11.77	11.35b	11.85c
Meals food	7.49	7.45	7.24a	7.75abc
Snacking beverages	1.17	1.13	1.21	1.30ab
Meals beverages	1.09	1.09	1.09	1.13

¹Total snacking and meals energy density combines food plus beverages. ^aDifferent from 1977–1978, P < 0.01; ^bdifferent from 1989–1991, P < 0.01; ^cdifferent from 1994–1996, P < 0.01 (t test).