Americans' eating habits have finally begun to change for the better after decades of alarming increase in obesity levels, New York Times reported.

The decline in the calorie intake was witnessed across most demographic groups, including blacks and whites, and higher and lower income groups. Calorie consumption by Americans has shown its first sustained decline since federal statistics on the subject first emerged, more than 40 years ago. The calories consumption by the average American child has fallen by at least 9 percent.

The decline in calorie consumption has controlled the growing obesity rates for adults and school going children, and has brought down the obesity rates for young children.

The decline in calorie consumption can be attributed to the growing awareness among people that their health is being adversely impacted by the wrong eating habits.

The New York Times reported that the amount of full-calorie soda drunk by the average American has dropped by 25 percent since the late 1990s.

The decline in the American calorie consumption has been tracked by government researchers as well as proved by data bar codes, estimates of food production and a flattening of obesity rates.

The turning point in the American attitude towards eating seems to have come in the year 1999, with the publication of a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association by the researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that focused on the alarming obesity levels in all the 50 states in the U.S.