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Promoting healthful diets is a central
goal of Federal nutrition policy, which is encapsulated in the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans and the Food Guide Pyramid. For most people,
such nutrition advice boils down to eating less of some foods and
dietary components (such as sweets, sugars, refined grains, and saturated
fat) and more of others (such as whole grains, fruit, and dark green
leafy vegetables). However, this advice is more easily given than
taken. Keeping tabs on your diet and portion sizes can get complicated,
even for meals prepared in your own kitchen, and becomes more difficult
still when it comes to that fast-food lunch, dinner at a fine restaurant,
or the pizza delivered to your front door.
A 1996 survey by New York University and the Center for Science
in the Public Interest found that trained dietitians underestimated
the calorie content of five restaurant meals by an average of 37
percent and the fat content by 49 percent. If nutrition experts
have such difficulty assessing the nutrients in their diets, imagine
the difficulties of the general public. Campaigns to promote healthful
diets will be less successful if people misperceive the quality
of their diets. Nutrition educators, dietitians, and public health
professionals will be one step ahead if we can assess to what extent
consumers misperceive the quality of their diets. An added plus
is that people's accuracy in assessing their dietary intakes should
serve as an indicator of how successfully existing nutrition guidance
is being used and understood.
 ERS researchers have used USDA's 1989-90 Continuing Survey of Food
Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) and the Diet and Health Knowledge
Survey (DHKS) to look at people's perceptions of their dietary intakes
as compared with their actual intakes measured from 24-hour dietary
recalls. Our study shows that 40 percent of household meal planners/preparers
are dietary optimists—that is, they rate their diet quality
to be better than it actually is. The same proportion are dietary
realists—they accurately rate their diet quality. The remaining
20 percent are dietary pessimists—they perceive their diet
quality to be worse than it actually is.
These
percentages highlight the challenges facing successful nutrition-guidance
policies. From a nutrition-guidance perspective, people who have
poor diets but who believe their intakes to be healthful—our
optimists—present a special area of concern. These people may
be unaware that their current nutritional intake could be detrimental
to their health, and there is no reason to expect them to change
their eating habits without further intervention. The optimists
could benefit from additional nutritional education, especially
if they are somehow alerted to the health consequences of their
actual diets, and the fact that they are presently acting under
false impressions.
The realists—those who correctly assessed their diets—were
comprised of 33 percent who had diets that were poor or needing
improvement and 7 percent who had diets that were of good nutritional
quality. The realists with poor diets raise questions about what
would motivate them to change their eating habits. Many considerations,
not just the nutritional value of food, affect dietary choices.
These consumers might be more responsive to nutritional guidance
that alters their perception of what "healthy eating"
entails by addressing their concerns about the convenience, affordability,
and flavor of healthier diets.
From a practical standpoint, persuading realists with poor diets
to change their eating habits could prove to be a costly proposition.
The members of this group are already aware that their diet quality
is less than healthful and are perhaps reluctant to do anything
about it. Alternatively, the optimists may be willing to eat more
healthfully if they realize their dietary misperception, and they
might be more receptive to nutritional advice. Targeting information
efforts toward the optimists might offer a higher return from an
investment of limited nutrition-education resources.
The likelihood of household meal planners/preparers being falsely optimistic about their diet quality is associated with their sociodemographic profiles. A greater share of men tend to be optimists compared with women. Both the youngest (ages 18-25) and the oldest (66 and older) age groups are less prone to misjudge their diet quality compared with adults ages 26-45. The difference in dietary misperception is minor among Hispanics, non-Hispanic Whites, and non-Hispanic Blacks. In addition, the tendency to overestimate diet quality increases with the level of household income and the level of educational attainment. The strongest association of false optimism about diet quality is with a person's own perceived health status. Those who believe that they are in excellent health also tend to view their diet quality as good when in fact it is not.
 This piece is part of a larger paper, "Consumer misperceptions of diet quality," published in the Journal of Nutrition Education, vol. 33, issue 6, pp. 314-321. For a reprint of the complete article, please contact Jay Variyam (202) 694-5457.
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