I Want To Eat Healthier— I SWEAR— No, Really, I Do!!

Americans insist they want to eat healthier. The problem is they may be telling the food industry and reporters what they should be saying, not what they really feel.

A new study by Mintel International shows only 20% of those surveyed said health was an important factor in ordering at a restaurant. Much more important are taste and hunger satisfaction (77% and 44% respectively). In a classic case of “do what I say, not what I do,” ¾ of respondents claimed they’d like to see healthier choices on menus, but only half usually order them.

One factor might be cost, since restaurant offerings in the healthy category usually price out higher than less-healthy options. Over 50% of those in the survey complained about the higher cost of healthy menu choices as well as the paucity of them, with less-healthy options far outnumbering the “good” alternatives. Whether it’s the chicken or the egg that comes first, restaurants are lagging with “good for you” additions to their menus; only 5% of those introduced in the first quarter of 2009 have any nutrition claim. In contrast, 20% of new menu items are fried.

The government’s efforts to pressure restaurants into nutrition labeling is mirrored in the survey respondents with 75% desiring greater nutritional information and transparency. These conclusions were supported by a separate survey commissioned by Hormel which said the economy has forced shoppers to cut back on healthy or all-natural.

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