The “current” food supply has an HEI score of 55 because it has only small amounts of fruits and vegetables; not enough whole grains or dairy products; sufficient protein but not enough from plant and fish sources; too many refined grains; way too much sodium; and way too many unhealthy fats and added sugars.
Creating an “improved” food supply with an HEI score of 100 would require roughly doubling the supply of fruits and vegetables available to Americans; cutting the amount of refined grains by about half and tripling the amount of whole grains; increasing the amount of milk by 70 percent with the addition of fat-free milk and milk substitutes; changing the types of protein foods to include more fish and plant sources; reducing sodium by half; and decreasing unhealthy fats and added sugars by 40 percent.