American diets have gotten a little healthier, but still fall short of federal government recommendations for healthy eating, finds an analysis of nationally representative interview data from 1999 to 2016. The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzes a total of 43,996 adults’ one-day diet logs collected over the study period. The analysis focuses on the macronutrients the participants reported consuming (i.e., protein, carbohydrates and fats) and the food sources from which they were derived. These food sources are further categorized — for example, carbohydrates derived from whole grains would be further classified as high-quality, whereas carbohydrates derived from foods containing added sugar would be considered low-quality. This approach is key because, health-wise, not all carbs (or fats, or proteins) are created equal. To see how Americans’ diets fare, researchers compared the data with the most recent dietary guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Looking …