SOURCES USED AND TRUSTED BY NATIONALLY-REPRESENTATIVE ADULTS IN THE EUROPEAN-UNION FOR INFORMATION ON HEALTHY EATING

Objective: To assess what sources of information on healthy eating are used and in particular to ascertain which are the most trusted by Eur opean adults. Design: A cross-sectional study in which quota-controlle d, nationally-representative samples of approximately 1000 adults from each country completed a face-to-face interview-assisted questionnair e. Setting: The survey was conducted between October 1995 and February 1996 in the 15 member states of the European Union. Subjects: 14 331 subjects (aged 15 y upwards) completed the questionnaire. Data were we ighted by population size for each country and by sex, age and regiona l distribution within each member state. Results: The five sources of information most frequently selected were: TV/radio (29%), magazines a nd newspapers (27%), health professionals (26%), food packages (22%) a nd relatives/friends (22%). Those used by less than 5% of the populati on included vegetarian and slimming societies and women's organization s. The reliance on health professionals for information was stronger f or females and tended to increase with age. The most trusted sources o f information in almost all countries were health professionals (91%) and government agencies (80%) with great consistency across countries. 15% of Europeans stated that they did not get any information on heal thy eating.