WE'VE CUT FAT, BUT NEED MORE VEGGIES.

Byline: Medical Tribune News Service

Americans are consuming less fat than they used to, but they still aren't eating their vegetables, a new government survey shows.

Fat consumption has declined from about 40 percent of total calories in the late 1970s to 34 percent in 1991 and 33 percent in 1994, the survey found.

But vegetables and fruits remain relatively unpopular, despite U.S. dietary guidelines that recommend eating five servings of these foods each day, according to the ongoing poll, conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nearly half the people surveyed said they ate no fruit on a given day.

The biggest change in Americans' eating habits is a new love affair with grains, the government researchers found. Consumption of "grain mixtures" such as lasagna and pizza more than doubled in the last 17 years, and snack foods such as crackers, pretzels and corn chips have become even more popular.

"One of the biggest changes within the grain mixtures category is the explosion of different ethnic foods, especially Mexican foods," said nutritionist Lori G. Borrud of the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Riverdale, Md., who led the survey.

The results were based on personal interviews with 5,500 people of all ages across the United States, including children and the elderly. The survey will end next year after data have been collected on about 15,000 Americans, and its findings will be used to direct public policy on issues such as food fortification and nutrition-education programs.