Daily Research News Online no. 2904 - UK's Constant Dieters

UK's Constant Dieters

February 5 2004

More than a quarter of British adults (28%) are trying to lose weight 'most of the time' according to a new report from MINTEL, 'Attitudes Towards Healthy Eating in the UK'. Even among men, almost one in five (18%) are doing so, whilst among women the figure is 37%.

MINTEL, with an interesting choice of wording, describes this as 'a massive 13 million people'.

Almost one in six (18%) British women often skip meals to keep their weight down, whereas only one man in nine does so (11%). The group most likely to be doing this is young women aged between 15 and 24 years old, echoing results from yesterday's YouGov article looking at the priorities of teenage girls. In general, younger people are less likely to eat healthily than those aged 65 years old and over.

Consumer analyst Jenny Catlin comments: 'Many people are now watching their weight because they are more knowledgeable about the effects of their diet on their health and general well-being. But on top of this 'cosmetic' slimming has become big business. Today more and more people are dieting for aesthetic reasons as opposed to health reasons. This is often in response to peer and media pressure to achieve a slim and attractive figure'.

'Many women, particularly girls and young women, obsess about their appearance and about losing weight. This has led to an increased interest in diet regimes such as Atkins and to women skipping meals to keep their weight down. The major danger here is that skipping meals in particular is only a short-term solution to losing weight, and is also widely considered to be very unhealthy'.

The research confirms that younger generations pay less attention to healthy eating, and older people more. Those aged 65 years old and over are more likely than those aged 15 to 19 to avoid fats and sugars, eat a lot of vegetables and to choose light food:

Age group	avoid fat	avoid sugar	choose light food	eat a lot of veg
	%	%	%	%
15-19 yrs old	25	17	14	53
65 years +	49	44	29	77

It is of course possible to eat healthily without avoiding fat or sugar, at least, but generally the results support other evidence about the diet of younger generations. Jenny Catlin elaborates: 'Young people, especially women, are expected to be more weight conscious. But this concentration on eating healthily shows that older generations are prepared to adjust their diets for the long term good of their health. Younger people on the other hand want to see fast results and so are more likely to 'binge diet', by skipping meals or trying out new diets'.

Younger people are at least concerned about their dietary health. Almost half (49%) of the 15 to 19 year olds feel that they should do more about their health, rising to almost three in five (58%) amongst the 20 to 24 year olds, the highest of any age group.

Mintel's Web site is at www.mintel.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.