What’s for dinner?
It’s a deceptively simple question, asked millions of times every day. But consider the myriad factors that go into answering it – from cost to convenience to climate change – and it’s no wonder we spend so much time thinking about the food we eat.
And that doesn’t even apply to breakfast, lunch or snacks.
Many grapple with Americans’ food choices, including trillions of dollars in spending and our collective risk of developing a variety of chronic diseases. That’s why the International Food Information Council conducts an annual survey on nutrition and health.
“It’s about understanding the consumer’s mindset,” said Kris Sollid, a registered dietitian and senior director of nutrition communications for the industry-funded nonprofit.
Over nearly two decades of IFIC surveys, taste has consistently ranked as the most important factor in food purchase decisions, followed by price, health, convenience and environmental sustainability.
In the 2024 survey — to which 3,000 Americans responded in March — about 30% of respondents said the durability of an item was very important when making purchasing decisions about what to eat and drink.
That may seem low, considering scientists are already scrambling to find ways to feed the nearly 10 billion people expected to inhabit the planet by 2050, while simultaneously reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
But for Sollid, the fact that 30% of respondents gave sustainability a score of 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale counts as a strong indicator.
“I’d certainly like to see that number higher, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
Here’s a look at the state of the American diet, based on data from new IFIC findings.
What do we have in mind when we decide what to eat?
For starters, we’re looking for something to give us energy or help fight fatigue. But health considerations are also top of mind.
What kind of foods do we choose?
Protein is the most popular daily nutrient – 20% of respondents said they were eating a “high protein” diet last year, up from just 4% five years ago. But it’s not the only thing we want in our food.
At the same time, Americans are trying to reduce ingredients that are harmful to us.
For example, 50% of respondents said they were trying to limit or avoid sodium or salt. Too much salt can cause your blood pressure to rise, and high blood pressure (also known as hypertension) is a risk factor for serious health problems such as heart disease and stroke.
In addition, 44% of respondents said they were trying to limit or avoid saturated fat. This is the type of fat that can cause LDL cholesterol—the bad kind—to build up in your blood vessels, which also increases your risk of heart disease and stroke.
But public enemy no. 1 is sugar.
What’s wrong with sugar?
Our body needs some sugar for energy. But when we consume too much of it at once—which is easy to do when we consume soft drinks, breakfast cereals, and all kinds of ultra-processed foods—it gets stored as fat, which can lead to obesity. , diabetes and heart disease. other problems.
Two thirds of those who took part in the IFIC survey said they were trying to limit their sugar intake and 11% said they were trying to avoid it completely. Their main targets were added sugars in packaged foods and drinks, although some were also reducing natural sugars present in foods such as fruit and plain dairy products.
The reasons that motivated this withdrawal from sugar were a combination of current and future health concerns.
What other concerns affect our food choices?
We’re not just thinking about ourselves when we decide what to eat. For many people, concerns about how our food is produced matter when deciding whether to buy a particular food or drink.
This concern extends to animals, to the people involved in all aspects of putting food on our plates—from farmers to factory workers, to grocery store or restaurant staff—and to the planet itself.
How do we assess whether a food is made with the environment in mind?
The good news is that this is something that more than 70% of respondents care about. The bad news is there’s no easy way to tell.
“There is no real definition of what makes a food environmentally sustainable,” Sollid said. “There’s not one thing anyone can look at on a food package to tell them whether or not that choice is better than that.”
Instead, environmentally conscious consumers use the following clues to guide them:
Will people pay more for an eco-friendly product?
Producing food and drink sustainably often means added costs. So IFIC put forward this hypothetical scenario:
Imagine you go to the store to buy a specific item and find three options. One costs $3 and has an icon that says it’s “not very environmentally friendly.” Another costs $5 and is labeled as “somewhat eco-friendly.” The third costs $7 and is “very environmentally friendly.”
Which would you choose?
What is the connection between food and stress?
It goes both ways, the survey found: Stress affects the foods we choose, and the foods we choose can cause stress.
It’s a topic IFIC began asking following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which created both economic and food insecurity.
“The COVID revealed a lot of anxiety or potential sources of stress that a lot of people had to deal with,” Sollid said.
Four years later, nearly two-thirds of respondents are facing a significant amount of stress, up from 60% in 2023.
What are we so stressed about?
Money and health issues remain the biggest sources of stress among those who said they were “very” or “somewhat” stressed. The choice of food is weighing on the mind of almost 1 in 4 people in this category.
Are we eating our feelings?
Some of us are. Nearly two-thirds of people said their mental and emotional well-being had a significant or moderate impact on their diet.
Among those who were at least somewhat stressed, about half said their food and drink choices suffered as a result. However, a small number responded to the stress by seeking healthier options.
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