Survey shows that eating out is a health hazard for most

Malay Mail: A global study, called LifeChoices by marketing information provider ACNielsen last year, revealed that consumers are not well-equipped to make healthier choices when eating out-of-home.
The rise of eating out at restaurants, street sellers, cafes, fast food outlets and convenience stores has led to an obesity epidemic, especially in Asian countries.
ACNielsen conducted the study last year on more than 80 focus groups made up of young working women and mothers with children under 10 years old, who purchased food and drinks out of home on a regular basis.
The coverage included the United States, Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Denmark, Egypt, Poland, Spain, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
On the relationship between eating takeaways once a week and the population obesity, Hong Kong’s population eats out most often and was ranked third for weight gain.
Australia’s population has the highest percentage of obesity and was ranked second last among seven countries for eating out.
Despite consumers’ awareness on healthy diet, working under time pressure and the need to feed themselves and their families in a hurry forced them to eat out instead of cooking at home.
Following the eat-out, they may ‘balance’ their diet by eating less food or ‘more healthily’ for the next meal where some of the practices among Asians led to a lower overall energy intake. These include balancing a greasy meal by drinking hot tea and balancing healthy food with a sour food or drink.
The study also found that Asian and Western women have different perceptions on eating out. The former were found hardly cooking at home as out-of-home choices are cheaper, more acceptable by families and more varied than they could make at home. However, the latter disagreed with that.
ACNielsen Malaysia managing director Steve Watt said the lack of a reliable mental process to assess relative calorie values of foods and drinks could put the consumers at risk of obesity.
"Many have misinterpreted that foods make them put on weight because of what it is rather than how much there is, resulting in their over—emphasis on the role of portion rather than portion size," said Watt.
He identified friends and trends as the major contributors to eating out behaviour among women.
"When eating out, people follow friends’ rather than parents’ eating habits. It is also important for them to keep up-to-date by patronising new places and knowing the specialty dishes available," said Watt.
It is revealed that most Asians tend to regard obesity as only a distant threat and the consequence of it is merely disfigurement rather than seeing it as a health issue.
The study found solutions to obesity based around information, education, increased choices and greater personal responsibility.