Young adults and men eat fast food more often than women and adults age fifty and over. (See Figure 11.10.) While fast food is popular throughout the country, adults in the East are less frequent fast-food purchasers than adults in the Midwest, South, and West. (See Figure 11.11.)
One finding from the July 2003 Gallup Poll that health educators consider discouraging is that less than one-quarter of Americans pay close attention to food labels, while more than 20 percent said they paid little (12 percent) or no attention (9 percent) to food warnings and other nutritional information. (See Table 11.14.) It may be that point-of-purchase information and content labeling are virtually ignored by more than 40 percent of consumers. Another disturbing finding was that half of the respondents who knew that fast food was not very good for them continued to eat it at least once a week. (See Table 11.15.)
Teens Eat Fast Food and Junk Food
An August 2003 Gallup Youth Survey reported by Coleen McMurray in "Are Schools Havens for Junk Food
FIGURE 11.10
Survey results on those who eat fast food at least weekly, by age/gender, July 7–9, 2003
FIGURE 11.11
Survey results on those who eat fast food at least weekly, by region, July 7–9, 2003
Junkies?" (Gallup Organization, September 30, 2003) found that 20 percent of teens (aged thirteen to seventeen) ate at fast-food restaurants (including take-out, drive-thru, and eat-in) several times a week (17 percent) or every day (3 percent). Just 8 percent of teens said that they ate at fast-food restaurants a few times a year or less.
TABLE 11.14
Public opinion poll on attention paid to nutritional information, July 7–9, 2003
HOW MUCH ATTENTION DO YOU PAY TO THE FOOD WARNINGS AND NUTRITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS YOU HEAR OR READ ABOUT? DO YOU PAY—A LOT OF ATTENTION, A FAIR AMOUNT, SOME, NOT TOO MUCH, OR NOT AT ALL?
| A lot | Fair amount | Some | Not too much | None at all | |
| 2003 Jul 7–9 | 23% | 33 | 23 | 12 | 9 |
| SOURCE: Lydia Saad, "How Much Attention Do You Pay to the Food Warnings and Nutritional Recommendations You Hear or Read About? Do You Pay—a Lot of Attention, a Fair Amount, Some, Not Too Much, or None at All?" in "Public Balks at Obesity Lawsuits," The Gallup Organization, Washington, DC, July 21, 2003. Copyright © 2003 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization. [Online] http://www.gallup.com/content/default.asp?ci=8869&pg=1 [accessed February 10, 2004] | |||||
In addition to fast food, teens also reported frequent consumption of junk food. Eighty-four percent of teens said they were likely to eat "some" (61 percent) or "a great deal" (23 percent) of junk food during a typical week, while just 17 percent said that they ate hardly any junk food or none at all. Most teens have ready access to junk food and soda at school, where two-thirds (68 percent) said that they have purchased soda, chips, and candy from vending machines. Not surprisingly, teens who described themselves as "somewhat" or "very" overweight reported eating more junk food than those who described their weights as normal or underweight.
Some Americans Are Confused about How to Eat Healthily
In view of all of the conflicting information about diet and nutrition, and the ongoing, fiery debate about whether a low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet is more effective for weight loss, it is no wonder that many Americans are confused about how to eat a healthy diet. A Gallup Organization poll conducted for the American Dietetic Association in 2002 found that less than half (49 percent) of respondents said they were "not at all confused" about how to maintain a healthy diet, but nearly one-quarter described themselves as very or somewhat confused. (See Table 11.16.)
In 2002, while the low-carbohydrate diet was gaining momentum, most Americans (68 percent) still believed that a low-fat diet was healthier. (See Figure 11.12.) When questioned about their diets, more respondents claimed to be avoiding fat (62 percent) than sugar (43 percent) or carbohydrates (20 percent). (See Table 11.17.)
Does Increasing Self-Awareness Help People Make Healthier Food Choices?
Iowa State University psychologists Stacey Sentyrz and Brad Bushman conducted two studies to determine whether self-focusing situations, in which people compare
TABLE 11.15
Frequency of fast-food dining according to nutritional rating of fast food, July 7–9, 2003
| Very good/fairly good | Not too good/not good at all | |
| Weekly or more | 62% | 50% |
| Once or twice a month | 27 | 30 |
| Rarely/never | 11 | 20 |
| 100% | 100% | |
| SOURCE: Lydia Saad, "Frequency of Fast-Food Dining According to Nutritional Rating of Fast Food," in "Public Balks at Obesity Lawsuits," The Gallup Organization, Washington, DC, July 21, 2003. Copyright © 2003 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization. [Online] http://www.gallup.com/content/default.asp?ci=8869&pg=1 [accessed February 10, 2004] | ||
TABLE 11.16
Public opinion polls on the understanding of nutritional information, selected years 1993–2002
WHEN IT COMES TO KNOWING HOW TO EAT A HEALTHY DIET, WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS BEST DESCRIBES YOU—YOU ARE VERY CONFUSED, YOU ARE SOMEWHAT CONFUSED, YOU ARE NOT VERY CONFUSED, OR YOU ARE NOT AT ALL CONFUSED?
| Very confused | Somewhat confused | Not very confused | Not at all confused | No opinion | |
| 2002 Jul 9–11 | 3% | 21 | 26 | 49 | 1 |
| 1999 Sep 23–26 | 3% | 14 | 19 | 63 | 1 |
| 1993 Dec 2–22 | 5% | 22 | 27 | 45 | 1 |
| SOURCE: "When It Comes to Knowing How to Eat a Healthy Diet, Which of the Following Statements Best Describes You—You Are Very Confused, You Are Somewhat Confused, You Are Not Very Confused, or You Are Not at All Confused?" in The Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing, Poll Topic and Trend Nutrition and Food, The Gallup Organization, Washington, DC, 2002. Copyright © 2002 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization. [Online] http://www.gallup.com/content/default.asp?ci=6424 [accessed February 20, 2004] | |||||
their behavior to internal standards, influence them to avoid eating fatty foods. The researchers hypothesized that since self-focusing situations such as gazing into a mirror, performing in front of an audience, on camera, or seeing oneself on videotape have been shown to increase self-regulation of many behaviors, that self-focusing might also aid dieters to choose low-fat rather than high-fat foods. Sentyrz and Bushman described the studies and their results in "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Thinnest One of All? Effects of Self-Awareness on Consumption of Full-Fat, Reduced-Fat, and No-Fat Products" (Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 83, no. 6, December 1998).
In the first study 320 undergraduate college students enrolled in psychology courses (160 men and 160 women) who had previously completed several questions about their diet status were randomly assigned to a room with or without a mirror. The subjects were told that the researchers were studying the quality and taste of different types of cream cheese. Subjects were given a bag of
FIGURE 11.12
Public opinion poll on a low-fat vs. a low-carbohydrate diet, July 2002
small bagels and three different kinds of cream cheese—regular, light, or fat-free. The number of grams of each type of cream cheese consumed by each subject was recorded. The researchers predicted that the presence of a mirror would reduce consumption of the regular (full-fat) cream cheese, but would not influence consumption of the light and fat-free cream cheese.
The results of the study supported the researchers' hypothesis that the presence of a mirror would reduce consumption of fatty products, but would not influence consumption of light and fat-free products. Subjects in the mirror group ate less fatty cream cheese than those in the no-mirror group. There was no difference in the amount of light or fat-free cream cheese participants ate in the mirror and no-mirror groups. The fact that the mirror influenced consumption of the fatty cream cheese suggested that the subjects had an internal standard against eating fatty foods.
The second study involved 979 shoppers at large supermarkets in central Iowa. The researchers set up a table to allow shoppers to sample three different kinds of margarine: regular, light, and fat-free. To encourage self-awareness, a mirror was present on the tabletop. The
TABLE 11.17
Public opinion poll on including particular foods in diet, July 9–11, 2002
THINKING ABOUT THE FOOD YOU EAT, FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING PLEASE SAY IF IT IS SOMETHING YOU ACTIVELY TRY TO INCLUDE IN YOUR DIET, SOMETHING YOU ACTIVELY TRY TO AVOID, OR SOMETHING YOU DON'T THINK ABOUT EITHER WAY.
| July 9–11, 2002 | ||||
| Include | Avoid | Don't think about | No answer | |
| Vegetables | 91% | 2% | 7% | *% |
| Fruits | 89 | 2 | 9 | * |
| Chicken and other poultry | 84 | 5 | 11 | * |
| Grains such as bread, cereal, pasta, and rice | 81 | 6 | 12 | 1 |
| Fish and other seafood | 76 | 10 | 14 | * |
| Dairy products | 70 | 13 | 16 | 1 |
| Beef and other red meats | 60 | 23 | 17 | * |
| Carbohydrates | 50 | 20 | 28 | 2 |
| Soda or pop | 36 | 41 | 23 | * |
| Sugar | 29 | 43 | 27 | 1 |
| Salt | 27 | 45 | 28 | * |
| Artificially sweetened foods | 22 | 50 | 27 | 1 |
| Fat | 16 | 62 | 21 | 1 |
| Produce grown with pesticides | 12 | 39 | 46 | 3 |
| Foods produced using biotechnology | 8 | 30 | 52 | 10 |
| SOURCE: Lydia Saad, "Thinking about the Food You Eat, for Each of the Following Please Say It Is Something You Actively Try to Include in Your Diet, Something You Actively Try to Avoid, or Something You Don't Think about Either Way," in "Dieter's Dilemma: Bagels or Bacon?" The Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing, The Gallup Organization, Washington, DC, July 30, 2002. Copyright © 2002 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization. [Online] http://www.gallup.com/content/default.asp?ci=6481&pg=1 [accessed February 20, 2004] | ||||
researchers recorded the number of pieces of bread consumed with each type of margarine spread. Similar to the first study, the mirror was expected to reduce consumption of the regular (full-fat) margarine, but it was not expected to influence consumption of the light and fat-free margarine. The researchers also recorded the shopper's gender, estimated the shopper's age, and estimated whether the shopper was underweight, normal weight, or overweight in an effort to determine whether these variables might influence the effects of the presence of a mirror on consumption of fatty margarine.
The researchers found that shoppers in the mirror group ate less fatty margarine than did shoppers in the no-mirror group. There was no difference in the amount of light or fat-free margarine shoppers ate in the mirror and no-mirror groups. Weight and age did not significantly affect the results. However, consistent with the findings of previous research, women consumed less fatty margarine than did men. The researchers concluded that "self-focusing situations may lead to a decrease in consumption of fatty products. If people make food choices while in self-focusing situations, they may think twice about what they eat. Something as simple as a mirror on a refrigerator may influence people to avoid high fat foods."
FIGURE 11.13
Public opinion poll on participation in sports and exercise, May 2001
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