PERCEIVED BENEFITS OF HEALTHY EATING AMONG A NATIONALLY-REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF ADULTS IN THE EUROPEAN-UNION

Objective: To determine the main perceived benefits associated with he althy eating among European adults. Efforts to make a healthy diet mor e attractive have to be based on motives capable of stimulating altera tions in nutritional behaviour. Design: A cross-sectional study in whi ch quota-controlled, nationally-representative samples of approximatel y 1000 adults from each country completed a face-to-face interview-ass isted questionnaire. Setting: The survey was conducted between October 1995 and February 1996 in the 15 member states of the European Union. Subjects: A total of 14 331 subjects (aged 15 y upwards) completed th e questionnaire. Data were weighted by population size for each countr y and by sex, age and regional distribution within each member state. Results: The question 'which specific benefits, if any, would you pers onally believe can be achieved by healthy eating'? was answered from a collection of 9 given items with stay healthy by 67% of subjects, wit h prevent disease by 66%, with be fit by 53%, with control weight by 5 3% and with quality of life by 45%. The most important personal benefi t was asked by the question 'which one benefit would be the most perso nally significant for you'? 31% of subjects stated stay healthy, 24% p revent disease, 10% control weight, 10% quality of life, 9% be fit. Th e frequency of answered statements differed considerably between the E U countries, however, no regional structure was detected. More women t hen men expected benefits from healthy eating. With increasing age mor e people tended to believe in the benefits stay healthy and prevent di sease. Be fit was a more important benefit for younger people (aged 15 -34 y). people with a higher level of education associated more benefi ts from healthy eating.