INTERPRETATIONS OF HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY EATING, AND IMPLICATIONS FORDIETARY CHANGE

Central to many considerations of health-related dietary change is the interpretation given to 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' eating, Results are reported from two studies which investigated people's understanding o f these concepts, The first study involved structured interviews with 48 respondents: a wide range of interpretations of healthy and unhealt hy eating was found using content analysis techniques. The second stud y (n = 242) used questionnaires to assess the extent to which differen t interpretations were endorsed. The extent to which different eating behaviours were perceived as healthy or unhealthy varied greatly, A pr incipal components analysis of perceptions of healthy and unhealthy ea ting produced five separate factors. Some differences in perceptions w ere found for people of different age, gender and educational level. O bjectively assessed dietary intake and perceived intake mere found to be two distinct quantities. 'Healthy' eaters were found to perceive 'h ealthy eating' slightly differently to 'unhealthy' eaters. The results suggest that lay understanding of healthy eating does generally confo rm with dietary guidelines, and therefore health promotion priorities should focus on physical and psychological constraints to healthy eati ng, rather than attempting to increase the public's knowledge as a who le.