Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

What Does the Consumer Know About Nutrition?

1973; American Medical Association; Volume: 225; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1001/jama.1973.03220280049020

1538-3598

Howard E. Bauman,

Culinary Culture and Tourism

Consumers in general show a lack of knowledge about the constitution of well-balanced diets and have an inadequate conception of common food sources of important nutrients. Considerable research data have accumulated over the years to document this conclusion. The Pillsbury Company's Nutritional Base Line Study has also revealed that the average housewife does not believe her family has a problem with nutrition. In my group's surveys, involving a wide range of research approaches, 80% to 90% of women reported that, in their judgments, their families obtain nutritionally adequate meals. But the homemaker's definition of a nutritionally balanced meal is actually poor. In a number of studies, consumers were asked to describe a nutritionally balanced meal; only about 50% came reasonably close. Thirty or forty percent leave out one or more of the basic foods that should be in a menu. Even for foods that have been well advertised as having