Young adults and men eat fast food more often than women and adults age fifty and over. 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.
One finding from the July 2003 Gallup Poll that health educators considered discouraging is that less than one-quarter of Americans pay close attention to food labels, while more than 20% said they paid little (12%) or no attention (9%) to food warnings and other nutritional information. It may be that point-of-purchase information and content labeling are virtually ignored by more than 40% 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.
Despite far-reaching health education and media initiatives to educate Americans about the relationship between nutrition and health, it appears that in 2005, Americans eating habits were virtually unchanged. When queried about the quality of their diets, the same proportions of respondents considered their diets somewhat healthy (60%) and very healthy (26%) in 2005 and 2001. (See Table 11.5.)
Teens Eat Fast Food and Junk Food
Slightly less that two-thirds (61%) of American teens surveyed in 2004 said they ate "some" junk food—food that is convenient but is not considered healthy—during a typical week and almost one-quarter (23%) said their typical diets included "a great deal" of junk food. (See Figure 11.14.)
The 2004 Gallup Youth Survey found that despite efforts to ban or at least sharply restrict the sale of junk food in schools, most teens were still able to purchase soda and junk food in their schools. Three-quarters of teens aged thirteen to seventeen (74%) said they were able to buy soda or candy at school, and 90% could
TABLE 11.5 Individuals' assessments of whether their own diets are healthy, 2001–05
| TABLE 11.5 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individuals' assessments of whether their own diets are healthy, 2001–05 | |||||
| OVERALL, HOW HEALTHY WOULD YOU SAY YOUR DIET IS—VERY HEALTHY, SOMEWHAT HEALTHY, NOT TOO HEALTHY, OR NOT AT ALL HEALTHY? | |||||
| Date | Very healthy | Somewhat healthy | Not too healthy | Not at all healthy | No opinion |
| SOURCE: "Overall, How Healthy Would You Say Your Diet Is—Very Healthy, Somewhat Healthy, Not Too Healthy, or Not at All Healthy?" in Nutrition and Food, The Gallup Organization, August 2005, http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=6424&pg=1 (accessed January 14, 2006). Copyright © 2005 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization. | |||||
| 2005 Jul 7-10 | 26% | 60% | 12% | 2% | * |
| 2004 Jul 8-11 | 24% | 60% | 13% | 2% | 1% |
| 2003 Jul 7-9 | 23% | 64% | 12% | 1% | * |
| 2001 Jul 19-22 | 25% | 59% | 14% | 2% | * |
FIGURE 11.14 Teens' reports of how much junk food they eat in a single week, 2004
According to the Gallup Youth Survey, in 2004, 15% of teens bought soda at school every day, and 28% purchased it a few times a week. Twenty percent bought candy a few times a week, and 8% bought candy every day at school. (See Table 11.6.)
Although state legislation banning the sale of soda, candy, and non-nutritious snack foods in schools may limit teens' access to such fare during school hours, more than two-thirds (68%) of teens in 2004 believed that these bans would be unsuccessful at reducing the amount of soda and junk food in their diets. (See Figure 11.16.)
While most American adults support banning the sale of junk food in schools, just 5% of those surveyed in 2004 considered it the responsibility of schools to educate children about weight-related issues, according to Gallup. The majority (89%) believed the primary responsibility for teaching children how to avoid becoming overweight rests squarely with parents. (See Figure
TABLE 11.6 Teens' reports of how often they purchase junk food at school, 2004
| TABLE 11.6 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Teens' reports of how often they purchase junk food at school, 2004 | |||
| HOW OFTEN DO YOU BUY_________AT YOUR SCHOOL? | |||
| [Asked of U.S. teens aged 13 to 17] | |||
| Soda | Candy | Chips/other snacks | |
| SOURCE: Coleen McMurray, "How Often Do You Buy___at Your School?" in Schools Serve Education with a Side of Junk Food, The Gallup Organization, September 21, 2004, http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=13099&pg=1 (accessed January 14, 2006). Copyright © 2004 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization. | |||
| Once a day or more often | 15% | 8% | 12% |
| A few times a week | 28% | 20% | 26% |
| A few times a month | 14% | 19% | 22% |
| Rarely | 29% | 36% | 25% |
| Never | 14% | 17% | 12% |
FIGURE 11.16 Teens' opinions on whether banning the sale of soda and other junk food from schools would reduce the amount that teenagers consume, 2004
Does Increasing Self-Awareness Help People Make Healthier Food Choices
Iowa State University psychologists Stacey Sentyrz and Brad Bushman conducted two landmark studies to determine whether self-focusing situations, in which people compare their behavior to internal standards, influence them to avoid eating fatty foods. The researchers hypothesized that self-focusing might aid dieters to choose low-fat rather than high-fat foods 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. 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).
FIGURE 11.18 Public opinion on who, aside from parents, should teach children about weight issues, 2004
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 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 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."
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