Americans Still Prefer Unhealthy Food Choices

iStock/Thinkstock(KIEL, Germany) — The government can run all the public service announcements it wants about convincing people to change their eating habits but it all may be a big waste of time.

It has to do with people’s preconceived notions about what tastes good and what doesn’t, according to researchers Robert Mai and Stefan Hoffmann from Kiel University, Germany.

They say that despite an obesity epidemic that has gone global, people continue to overeat namely because people’s main reason for being drawn to food is its taste and the idea that unhealthy food tastes better than meals that are supposed to be healthier choices.

Mai and Hoffmann gave participants in a study different yogurts that varied in sugar and fat content. Invariably, people were more enthusiastic about the tastier selections, that is, with more sugar and fat, even when given useful information about the ingredients.

Invariably, both those who were overweight and even participants who were more health conscious went for the tastier yogurts.

In order to combat this problem, Mail and Hoffman recommended that food makers need to make their healthy food tastier as well as improving the marketing and packaging of the products. In addition, they urged those responsible for health awareness campaigns to change their approach so that consumers believe that eating healthy is both “cool” and prestigious.

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