Chicken or pasta? Rice cakes or yogurt? According to a new market research report, about 40 percent of Brits said they’re clueless as to which foods to eat in order to lose weight.
The report, released Monday by Mintel, found that while January traditionally marks the beginning of health and fitness-related resolutions, jut 61 percent of UK consumers say they actually know what foods can help them lose weight and which foods should be off the table -- the dining table that is.
Furthermore, that percentage drops to 55 percent when it comes to dieting men.
“Our research suggests that consumers are going on diets despite being uncertain about what they should eat,” said Alex Beckett senior food analyst in a statement.
“It also implies that advice surrounding calorie consumption is failing to register among a sizable chunk of the population – especially men...Consumers’ uncertainty about calories and what foods to avoid to lose weight stems from a wider lack of clarity about what is and isn’t healthy.”
Meanwhile, analysts say that growing unease about the economy has also shifted British consumers’ priorities.
Less attention is being paid to eating healthfully, the report says, as 59 percent cited their financial situation as a primary concern in 2011, compared with 41 percent who cited their heart health as a concern.
The number of adults who tried a low-fat diet likewise dropped from 44 percent in 2008 to 37 percent in 2011.
Consumers are also moving away from buying low-fat and low-calorie versions of their favorite sin foods and instead simply eliminating these foods from their diet altogether, Beckett said.
Meanwhile, the report also found that the top five weight management strategies employed among Brits include cutting back on fatty foods, sugary foods and drinks, exercising more, eating smaller portions and cutting back on alcohol.
As for choosing between pasta and chicken, rice cakes or yogurt, a spate of recent studies suggest that a moderate reduction of carbohydrates is a more effective method for weight loss.
Most recently, in a study published in the online journal PLoS ONE last October, researchers found that low protein diets drove subjects to eat more and take in excess calories, mostly through additional snacking. When subjects in the Australian study were fed a 10 percent protein diet, they consumed 12 percent more energy over four days than when they were put on a 15 percent protein diet.
There are no comments yet