Tabulations of nutrient intake evaluations of U.S.D.A. individual food consumption data indicate substantial changes in nutrient intake for various age-sex groups in the South as well as the nation between 1965 and 1977. For most nutrients, intakes in the South in 1977 were less than U.S. averages. Overall there was more improvement in vitamin content than in other nutrients in southern diets compared to U.S. diets between 1965 and 1977. In the case of total food energy and its sources as well as minerals, average intake for at least half of the southern groups decreased relative to U.S. averages. In most cases average nutrient intakes in the South and the entire United States exceeded RDA levels. Major exceptions were iron and calcium. Apparent deficiencies in iron intake for certain female groups were quite large and appeared to have increased in the South between 1965 and 1977.