Your Diet is Probably Worse Than You Realize
News Brief: Most Americans overestimate the healthfulness of their food
The typical American doesn’t exactly consume an ideal mix of food. That’s no secret. But a new study suggests that most U.S. adults are somewhat to very clueless about just how unhealthy their diet is.
“Most adults overrate the quality of their diet, sometimes to a substantial degree,” said study leader Jessica Thomson, PhD, a research epidemiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
To be fair, it can be really hard to know what to eat amid all the conflicting, confusing and changing advice these days. But the study yielded a stark statistic. Among 9,700 people who self-reported what they eat and rated themselves on their diet’s quality, about 85% overrated its healthfulness.
Here’s what the researchers considered relatively healthy versus unhealthy foods, based on current nutrition science:
Examples of foods ranked as healthier include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, lower-fat dairy products, seafood and plant proteins. Foods considered less healthy included refined grains and foods high in sodium, added sugars or saturated fats.
