The diets of low-income Americans have worsened in the past decade, even as the diets of the wealthiest Americans have improved, according to a new study that is among the first to measure changes in diet quality over time by socioeconomic status. Overall diet quality in the United States remains poor, said the lead author of the study, published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine.

在过去的十年间，美国低收入人群的饮食质量不断恶化，但是最有钱的一部分美国人所吃的食物质量却越来越高，从一份最新研究中，我们得知了随着社会经济地位的变化，不同收入的人群之间的食物质量鸿沟是多么的巨大。在这份研究发表于《美国医学会杂志-内科学》上的研究中，首席作者认为美国人的总体饮食质量依然不容乐观。

Although the study found that the diet of all Americans improved on average between 2005 and 2010, the progress masked a decline in diet quality among the poor. The result: a doubling of the gap in diet quality between the wealthiest Americans and the poorest.

研究发现美国人的总体饮食质量在2005-2010年有所改善，但是表面的进步却掩盖了穷人饮食质量的下降。结果显示美国最富裕和最贫穷的两类人之间的食物鸿沟已经提升一倍。

The study attributed the change to the higher cost of convenient and healthy meals, as well as limited access to quality supermarkets in some poorer neighborhoods.Frank Hu, a study author and co-director of the Program in Obesity Epidemiology and Prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health, cautioned against taking the improvements as a sign that Americans eat well. "This is really almost like an American diet report card," Hu said. "This has the good news that there has been some improvement in overall diet quality, but the report card still doesn't look very good."

研究认为方便健康饮食的成本比以前更高，以及在某些贫民区超市缺乏高质量食物是这种现象出现的原因。哈佛大学公共健康学院肥胖流行病学和预防项目主管之一，也是该研究的作者之一的Frank Hu给出了警告，他警告美国人不要因为总体饮食质量有所提高就误认为人们比以前吃得更健康，他说虽然总体饮食质量有所提高，这是好消息，但是美国人的饮食健康成绩单看上去依然不理想。

The report comes at a time when the food choices of low-income households are in the national spotlight. Legislators and advocates have suggested restricting what foods can be bought with the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) in an effort to promote health. First Lady Michelle Obama has made healthy diets a central part of her campaign to end childhood obesity. Today two-thirds of Americans of all classes are overweight or obese, with higher rates among the poor.

这个报告发表于全国都在关注低收入家庭饮食选择问题的关键时期。立法机关和饮食倡议人士都建议对食品券能够购买的食物种类进行限制，这样做的目的是提高国民的健康水平。美国第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马也在结束儿童肥胖的倡议活动中将健康饮食作为核心部分来论述。今天全美2/3儿童(所有阶级)超重或肥胖，这个比例在穷人中更高。

Even with the improvements, Americans collectively scored under 50 out of 110 on the Alternative Healthy Eating Index, according to the study.

研究显示，在满分为110的替代性健康饮食指数中，美国的整体人群的得分低于50。

Most of the improvement in the American diet, researchers said, was due to a steady decline in the consumption of trans fats. Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages also dropped, giving a minor boost to overall diet scores. American diets otherwise stayed consistent, with low scores for fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

研究人员说之所以饮食质量有所提高，原因是反式脂肪消耗量稳步下降。同时，含糖饮料的消费量也有所下降，这两个因素小幅度地助推了得分。不过美国人在水果、蔬菜以及全谷食品上的得分依旧偏低。

Trans fats have been a target of public policy efforts to improve diet. Last fall the Food and Drug Administration announced it was considering banning the fats in processed foods, a decade after the agency required that trans fats be clearly listed on packaged foods. Federal efforts to promote consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, meanwhile, have largely been confined to education and public service announcements.

反式脂肪一直是改善饮食的公共政策努力的目标。去年秋天美国食品和药物管理局公开发表声明说他们正在考虑禁止加工食物中含有反式脂肪。而十年前管理局要求反式脂肪必须清楚的列在食品包装袋上。联邦政府采取的促进水果，蔬菜和全谷食物消费的努力主要局限于教育和公益广告。

The study has implications for efforts to improve Americans' diets, particularly among the poor, experts said. "It really speaks to the evidence that if you want to change the American diet, you have to change the policy," said Marlene Schwartz, director for the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University.

专家说研究表明美国的，尤其是穷人的饮食质量亟需改善。耶鲁大学的食品政策与肥胖研究中心主管Marlene Schwartz表示：“已有证据表明要改变美国人的饮食习惯就要改变政策。”

"Education will only get you so far," she said, noting that education is often most successful for those who can afford to pay for it. Improving diet among the poor, she said, requires "improving the food supply so people can eat what's there and not be exposed to so many dangerous things."

她说，教育主要是对那些能够买得起高质量食物的人有效，仅此而已。想要改善穷人的饮食质量，就要改善食品供给的质量，使得他们不会买到许多危险的食物。

Jessica Caouette, a nutrition and cooking instructor with Cooking Matters—a national nonprofit—who works with low-income families, echoed that reaction. "All parents are interested in feeding their families healthy meals," she said, but "price is a concern for low-income families."

营养烹饪专家Jessica Caouette就职于旨在服务低收入家庭的国家非盈利机构Cooking Matters，她认为父母都想为家庭提供健康的饮食，但对于低收入家庭来说，价格也是他们考量的因素之一。

A survey of Cooking Matters students from 2012 found that 85 percent said they wanted to eat healthfully but that only half were able to do so. More recently a survey from the food bank umbrella group Feeding America found that nearly 80 percent of its clients bought the cheapest food available even though they knew it wasn't healthy.

2012年一份对Cooking Matters学员的调查显示85%的人表示他们希望吃健康食品，但是只有一半的人有能力这么做。最近Feeding America食物银行组织的一份调研显示虽然知道很不健康，但是80%的客户依然选择购买他们能买到的最便宜的食品。

The best bet for improving the American diet, Hu said, lies in a broad approach. "Without changing the food environment and food system," he said, "education alone is not going to be very effective."

Hu认为如果食品的大环境和食品系统不改变的话，单单是提升教育也无法有效提升人们的饮食习惯。