Dietary quality of the US child and adolescent population: trends from 1999 to 2012 and associations with the use of federal nutrition assistance programs.

Although HEI-2010 scores in children and adolescents improved steadily, the overall dietary quality remained poor. Participants in the SNAP and participants in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, or both have lower dietary quality than do nonparticipants. Future policy interventions are needed to continue improvement in dietary quality and to address disparities.