Brits fed up with eating advice

Apr 27 2005

Brits are fed up with being told what to eat and what not to eat and are presently suffering from "do-gooder fatigue".

In a study of 988 adults, by consumer analyst Mintel, it was found that almost half of Britons are tired of healthy eating campaigners telling them how to change their diet

The research found that 48% of people were fed up with being told what to eat and more than two thirds (69%) complained that because of ever changing expert advice it was hard to work out which foods were healthy and 58% said confusing labelling on food made it difficult to work out what was good for them.

It was also found that despite the widespread irritation with healthy eating campaigns, around half considered themselves to be overweight with the 15 to 24-year-old age group the most likely to think they were "about the right weight".

One factor behind the rapidly increasing levels of overweight and obese adults in Britain might be the relatively buoyant mood in the economy say the researchers. They found Brits to be a nation of sweet tooths, sweet products such as chocolate bars, cakes and biscuits made up three of the top four foods people see as their weaknesses.

James McCoy, senior market analyst at Mintel, says there are clearly a large number of adults suffering from chronic information overload when it comes to healthy eating issues and they may now be in 'switch off mode' when it comes advice.

http://www.mintel.com/