Global Health Food: Nielsen Survey Reveals Food Attitudes Around The World

What makes food healthy? We all know the rules of basic nutrition: whole grains, lots of veggies, lean protein -- as well as less sugar, salt and saturated fat. But when it comes to shopping with better health in mind, do we all pick the same foods off the shelves? How do supermarket shoppers in Dubai or Dubrovnik compare to the people wandering down the aisles in Denver?

In a survey of consumers' healthful eating habits, the global analytics group Nielsen found that global citizens differ slightly on what they consider a health-promoting food. They provided a list of ten health foods and asked a total of 25,000 respondents from 56 countries to choose which foods they regularly purchased with health in mind. Then, they divided the responders by five regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East/Africa and North America. Some foods -- like whole grains and yogurt made the top list in each region. But other foods, like soy milk and fermented drinks were pretty culture-specific.

What we all have in common, meanwhile, is some difficulty determining what's healthy: while 53 percent of respondents around the globe said they were actively trying to lose weight and 78 percent agreed that diet was the primary way to achieve weight loss, 59 percent said they had trouble interpreting nutrition labels.

What's more, a majority of respondents said they were skeptical of health claims on packaging. Fully 68 percent of respondents were at least sometimes skeptical of the label 'All Natural' (and with good reason -- at least in the United States, it has no legal meaning), while 70 percent were sometimes skeptical of the term, 'Organic.' Large proportions of the respondents were even skeptical of basic information, like calorie counts (58 percent) and fat breakdowns (63 percent). Without confidence in the information provided by food manufacturers, how are consumers making choices in the supermarket aisle? As the rankings in the slideshow indicate, a combination of cultural knowledge and nutritional information may be driving food choices.

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Comments

[lunareclipse8]

03:57 AM on 02/09/2012

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[Patrick SaintJean]

01:49 PM on 01/31/2012

It is very interesting to see how people in different parts of the part differ widely on what they would consider healthy food. This speaks a lot about the regional differences and the effects of cultural norms in our diet. What is interesting is how much they agree with respect to the credibility of labels on the food that they buy. Overwhelmingly, people around the world don't believe in the labels. This is one of the reason why the health and wellness industry is huge around the world. http://ibourl.com/dvz

[Seppowatcher]

12:06 AM on 01/30/2012

I suspect that the list of ten foods on the list says a lot more about the people conducting the survey than those answering it.

[PatientZeroBeat]

12:02 PM on 01/28/2012

Is this a survey of only unhealthy idiots who wouldn't put fruits and vegetables in a list of healthy foods?

[dhrynio]

11:38 AM on 01/28/2012

That is sad. So sad because I hardly see a thing on there that is actually healthy. Grains are junk. The juice drinks are loaded with sugar and dyes. So sad. Where are the veggies? The real fruit?

[bugmenot2]

03:47 AM on 02/07/2012

I can't remember the last time I've said this:

It brings me to TEARS to see that butter and oil substitutes are ranking so high. The number of great minds that have been PHYSICALLY DEFORMED, all over the world, by parents who only want the best for their children, being fed this plastic. Some of these people would grow up to cure cancer, but the right neural connections were never made because plastic doesn't conduct electricity.

I am being dramatic... These fake fats lead to physically deformed receptors in the brain and body, creating tons of health issues, many psychological, the biggest of which would be simple lack of memory and neural plasticity.

[Got nothing better to do]

10:49 AM on 01/28/2012

I am not surprised that no veggies or fruit made the list.

[daigz]

02:32 PM on 01/27/2012

Several regions reported "fruit juice with supplements" as a healthy item, yet only the image presented for North America was a picture of actual fruit juice.. huh?

[NinfaUrbana]

09:33 AM on 01/27/2012

I live in Latinamerica, and NOBODY THINKS BUTTER IS HEALTHY!!

(http://t.qkme.me/35jqxf.jpg)

[kittiesgoruff]

05:16 PM on 01/26/2012

I feel like this article is intended to make people think that eating these foods as a source of "gaining health" is acceptable.

[Todra Payne]

05:05 PM on 01/26/2012

How could the whole world be so off on this? There wasn't one example of "live" nutrient, rich real food on that list. Try vegetables and fruit! Not fake fruit juices with junk mixed in. Or white bread and MSG laden boxed junk. And hydrogenated oil-based fake butter??? It's healthier to eat butter. *sigh*

[jgarma]

01:30 PM on 01/26/2012

I think that the work of the "Blue Zone" people did a great job putting this topic on the map.

In their case, they focused on the diets, lifestyles and attitudes of the longest-lived people in the world and examined the common traits. Among such traits where physical activity, community, high fiber foods, dominant portions of veggies and fruits and modest calorie ingestion.

Sanjay Gupta, brain surgeon and CNN contributor interviewed Dan Buettner of “Blue Zone” fame who presented "5 Simple Things to Live Longer, Better" here: http://wp.me/pA04z-qQ

And there's a video of Gupta delving into the Blue Zone topic here: http://wp.me/pA04z-q8

[Chas53]

09:26 PM on 01/27/2012

Thanks for the links.

[Patrick SaintJean]

02:05 PM on 01/31/2012

Interesting, Sanjay Gupta is well respected around the world. There is something to be said about the wide regional difference regarding what people consider to be healthy food. The one that seems to get wide support around the world is the the food industry can't be relied upon to bring and make healthy food. It is an individual responsibility. http://ibourl.com/dvz

[joeyc]

12:59 PM on 01/26/2012

White bread? :O

[jgarma]

01:32 PM on 01/26/2012

Yeah, what's with that?

Can see white bread among world-wide "food attitudes", but don't include it in the health food category.

[ontariogirl]

12:13 PM on 01/26/2012

So does that mean we all eat-bread with butter and oil substitutes, drink fortified vitamin drinks and yogurt. I'd rather eat real food. Fruit, veggies and farm raised meat. Who sponsored this study anyways.....Activia?

[jgarma]

01:36 PM on 01/26/2012

Yeah, forget about this list... it may fairly present world-wide attitudes about food, but not what we should be eating.

For that, I defer to (now) 87+ year-old billionaire David Murdock, who developed his list of the 30-some most healthy foods created by the health institute he funds. Read "86 Year-old Billionaire’s Recipe for Longevity" here http://wp.me/pA04z-at

[ontariogirl]

01:13 PM on 01/29/2012

Thanks for the info. I will check it out. :)

[brinniewales]

09:06 AM on 01/26/2012

"...59 percent said they had trouble interpreting nutrition labels." In Central America, most of the food items do not have nutrition labels unless they are imported or high-end ($) foods from large supermarkets. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the population has developed diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease. Obesity is rampant - not due to McDonalds-style fast-food but high intake of processed and pure cane sugar, salt, carbohydrate rich dishes and regional fried foods dripping with oil.

[brinniewales]

08:32 AM on 01/26/2012

LATIN AMERICA #3: Yogurt With Acidophilus
13 of 27

Love the photo of yogurt for Latin America because the displayed product is not in the language of any Latin American country I recognize. What language is that, anyway?

[Rae O]

02:40 PM on 01/26/2012

Pretty sure it's French and German.

[brinniewales]

02:44 PM on 01/26/2012

Looks like German.