NEW YORK (Reuters) — Ninety percent of Americans say breakfast is an important part of a
healthy diet, but just 49 percent manage to eat breakfast every day, a new survey shows.
And only 11 percent know the amount of calories they should consume daily to maintain a healthy
weight, according to the International Food Information Council Foundation’s second annual Food
& Health Survey. “The only good thing is more people tried to guess than last year,” Susan Borra,
the president of the Washington, DC-based IFIC Foundation, told Reuters.
IFIC commissioned a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, this March to better understand people’s
beliefs and behaviors regarding healthy eating. The survey identified a number of “diet
disconnects” between what people intend to do and their actual habits, according to Borra and
her team.
Among the most striking “disconnects,” Borra said, concerned knowledge about good and bad
fats. While current guidelines recommend people consume more polyunsaturated fats, found in
fish and some whole grain foods, and monounsaturated fats, found in nuts, avocados and
vegetable oils, she noted, 42 percent of those surveyed said they were trying to eat fewer
polyunsaturated fats and 38 percent reported trying to cut down on monounsaturated fats.
However, 70 percent of people said they were trying to cut down on saturated fat, more than last
year’s 57 percent. Saturated fats are found in meats, dairy foods, and coconut and palm oils,
among other sources, and have been tied to an increased risk off heart disease and stroke.
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