American Dietetic Association’s Public Opinion Survey “Nutrition And You: Trends 2008”
The American Dietetic Association’s survey of consumer attitudes regarding food and nutrition shows that health continues to play a key role in consumer diets. Nearly half of consumers (43%) feel that they are currently doing all they can to eat a healthy diet, and 67% feel that diet and nutrition are personally very important to them. People also note consuming less in beef, pork, and dairy.
A plurality of consumers (43%) feels that a healthy diet and regular exercise are very important, and feel they are doing all they can to eat a healthy diet. A slightly smaller portion (38%) agree to the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise, but have taken significant actions to do all they can to eat healthily. One in five consumers (19%) do not feel that diet and exercise are important and are the least concerned with overall nutrition and fitness. Since 1991, there appears to be a trend away from those who are unconcerned about diet and exercise.
Diet and nutrition are considered to be “very important” by 67% of consumers, while exercise and physical activity are considered important by 61% of consumers. Women are more likely than men to say both are important, although diet and nutrition rate the most highly among women (73%). Older people also rate the importance of diet and nutrition more highly than young people.
More than 70% of adults do not proactively strive for a balanced diet because they are satisfied with the way they eat (79%) and/or don’t want to give up their favorite foods (73%). These results were similar to findings from the ADA survey conducted in 2000.
Consumers were also asked about their consumption of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, fish, chicken, dairy, pork, and beef over the past five years. The largest increases were among whole grains (56%), fruits (50%), and vegetables (48%). Those 65 and older were the least likely to have increased consumption of any of these foods, while those 18-34 were the most likely to have increased consumption, especially of whole-grain foods. In terms of decreases, 23% cut back on dairy, 33% on pork, and 41% on beef. However, more people reported their consumption of dairy (62%), pork (54%), and beef (49%) to be the same over the last five years.
The most popular sources for food and nutrition information were television (63%) and magazines (45%), which were both down from the 2002 survey. Substantial growth was noted in the use of the internet to find nutrition information, used by 24% of respondents.