At a glance
- CDC releases comprehensive national nutrition report on American's nutritional status assessed through objectively measured biochemical markers
- New tables allow readers to sort easily through online data
- The new report covers biomarkers for fat- and water-soluble vitamins, trace elements, and various bioactive compounds linked to health outcomes
Overview
The new CDC National Nutrition Report, which came out in June 2026, provides a buffet of information about the U.S. population's nutritional status. The report shows Americans have increased their intake of important vitamins and minerals as objectively measured by nutritional biomarkers in blood and urine—and there's room for improvement.
For example, after 1998, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began requiring food companies to add folic acid to all enriched cereal grain products, blood folate levels increased about 50 percent in the population. Folate is a water-soluble B vitamin that is naturally present in some foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement.
Folate is important during pregnancy, infancy, and other periods when cells rapidly divide and grow. Before 1998, about 10 to 12 percent of women of reproductive age did not have enough folate in their bodies. Since 1998, that figure has dropped dramatically to less than 1 percent in women of reproductive age in the U.S. population.
The CDC Nutrition Report provides information about 130 other nutritional biomarkers measured in a sample of the U.S. population over a period of 24 years, 1999–2023, through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. These markers of important nutrients show up in biological samples like blood and urine.
The 2026 Nutrition Report provides:
- Nutritional biomarker information for users and nonusers of dietary supplements
- Reference information for physicians and scientists to detect high or low nutrient levels in people
- A look at nutrient levels over time to see trends in nutrition status important for health
- Numbers to compare the effectiveness of different interventions to improve nutrition in the U.S. population.
New tables allow readers to sort easily through online data to compare the population's nutritional results by different characteristics like age, race, and even use of dietary supplements like vitamins.
"I think organizing the trend tables by people's supplement use is huge because this variable has such a big impact on nutritional status," says Dr. Christine Pfeiffer, chief of CDC's Nutritional Biomarkers Branch. "Knowing the overall biomarker levels is valuable, but knowing how much they vary between supplement users and nonusers is very helpful to both scientists and public health professionals."
Showing progress and room for improvement
Pfeiffer calls folate and vitamin D some of the nutritional "workhorses" that the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey looks at. "They have been measured almost continuously over the 24-year span covered in the CDC Nutrition Report because there is so much interest in these nutrients and they are so important for healthy growth and development."
Like folate, vitamin D levels have increased over time, particularly in people who take extra supplements. Vitamin D is essential for good bone health. It may help strengthen muscles and protect against cancer and type 2 diabetes. Ultraviolet light from the sun helps people form vitamin D in the skin.
However, there's room for improvement with another important nutrient group: omega-3's, polyunsaturated fatty acids that are vital to good health. People get omega-3 fatty acids from food, supplements, and plant oils. Omega-3's can help protect the heart and the vascular system, and lower triglycerides and inflammation in the body. Pfeiffer was surprised to see that more than half of the U.S. population had low levels of omega-3 in their diet.
All of this information is of great public health importance, according to Pfeiffer. It lays the groundwork for building public health programs, nutrition recommendations, and policies. The information also benefits scientists who study the relationship between nutrition, health status, and lifestyle or behavioral factors.
The new CDC Nutrition Report covers 69 fat- and 22 water-soluble vitamins, nutrients, and related compounds, 7 iron indicators, trace elements, 6 phytoestrogens, and 15 caffeine and metabolite biomarkers, as well as additional compounds that are typically associated with certain highly processed foods in a person's diet. To see the full report, please visit the Nutrition Report site.