Global Stats Show 48 Percent of Consumers Are Trying to Lose Weight And Six in Ten Have Difficulty Understanding Nutritional Labels on Food Packages
LiveTribe.com regularly conducts surveys and polls on a wide range of topics varying from preferred ways of spending leisure time to personal finances to daily diet and health. This allows the LiveTribe research team by looking at the global market research data better understand where the Australian consumers stand and how they are compared to consumers in other countries around the world.
A vast number of polls asking about health, food and diet daily submitted to us by our members suggests that those topics are of great interest to many of the panel members. This article looks into the results of some of those polls as well as the results of the global market research conducted lately.
A recent survey ‘Healthy Eating Trends around the World’* conducted throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and North America revealed some interesting facts. For example, the research exposed that up to 53 percent of global consumers are to some degree unhappy with their body weight. In Asia Pacific the percentage is somewhat smaller at 48 percent and reaches its highest amongst the North American consumers, 63 percent. According to our own data Australia fits right in the middle of those two figures. According to a recent poll conducted by LiveTribe.com, just over 50 percent of all New Year’s Eve Resolutions made this year mention losing weight or making efforts to lead a healthier lifestyle or have a healthier diet.
In what seems to be a surprising revelation and might constitute part of the problem highlighted in the previous paragraph, 61 percent of consumers in Asia Pacific confessed they only partly understand information on food packaging, including nutritional information. Australia and New Zealand clearly over performed their neighbours with 52 percent of consumers saying they feel comfortable understanding labelling on food packaging (though as figures below indicate, the Australian consumers expect better from it). In comparison, only 25 percent of South Korean consumers said they understand nutritional information panels and labels on food packaging.
Considering the importance of maintaining good health and diet in our daily lives, LiveTribe continues surveying our members on those topics. Recently we launched a poll asking our members if they were satisfied with the current labelling laws on products for sale. Preliminary results showed that 56 percent of consumers in Australia and New Zealand were not satisfied and would like to see more information to appear on packaging. Can those two sets of statistics – bodyweight and the ability to better understand information on food packaging including nutritional value – be interrelated? Further research will show.
We invite you to tell us what you think about those issues in your comment and send us your ideas for polls on health, food and diet.
* The Nielsen Global Omnibus Survey was conducted in March/April 2011 and in August/September 2011 and polled more than 25,000 consumers in 56 countries throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America.
[http://au.nielsen.com/site/documents/Nielsen-GlobalHealthyEatingReport-Jan2012.pdf]