A recent federal study found that American children are eating fewer calories than they did a decade earlier. It’s welcome news, especially considering that other studies have proposed today’s kids are going to die five years younger due to inactivity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted the study, called the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, to gauge how (and if) America is dealing with its growing obesity epidemic. The survey includes data on how children and adults alike eat in the 21st century. Read on to find out how our eating habits are changing for the better.

What’s the Deal

The survey compared data from 1999 with more recent responses from 2010. Participants were interviewed by phone and in mobile exam centers to report on their eating routines. The most promising stats involved children, finding that caloric intake for most age groups declined over the decade. Boys’ caloric intake decreased by about 7 percent (to 2,100 calories per day), and girls’ caloric intake shrunk by about 4 percent (to 1,755 calories per day), the New York Times reported.

Researchers suggested that a decrease in carbohydrate consumption (including sugars) played a big role in the drop. Calories from fat remained about the […]