Food Survey May 2011

103 High School Students (72 Females, 31 Males)

Very similar results to previous surveys.

Milk

•Which milk is healthiest?
36% chose soy milk and 66% drink it. 53% are afraid of fat in the milk (chose non-fat or low-fat). 10% think whole milk, and 1 girl chose raw milk.

Cholesterol
•80% think that cholesterol is either “a toxic substance found in our arteries” or ”a type of fat in foods, which we should avoid eating”.  8% really didn’t know. 13% picked the right answer: “A substance protecting cell membranes”.  Almost half (46%) of you had heard about “different kinds of cholesterol” – such as HDL (good) and LDL (bad), and lipoprotein was mentioned as well. One wrote that cheerios are good for cholesterol.

Butter and Oils
• NOBODY thinks butter/ghee is good to cook with. 41% think polyunsaturated oils are best to cook with. 45% chose olive oil and 14% canola oil.

Food and Drink Habits
•Few of you (11%) drink soda regularly. 43% drink fruit juice.

•81% eat meat quite often (maybe not grass-fed though) 17% eat meat rather seldom.  3% (3 people) are vegetarian. Nobody is vegan. (Good to hear!)

•“Popular” foods: Rice/Noodles – 84% eat these regularly.  53% usually eat eggs and 52% eat boxed cereals. 17% eat tofu.

•63% eat breakfast every day, 24% 3-5 days a week, and 11% skip breakfast.

•Soy products : 61% eat tofu, 23% eat edamame, 15% eat fermented soy products and 6% eat soy burgers.

Food Labels and Nutritional Information
•86% read food labels always or sometimes (many more females than males read them: 64 vs. 25). 14% (14) never reads them.

•Where do you get your nutritional information from?
Most of you indicated getting it from parents (72%) and health class (66%) followed by websites, health books/magazines. One said “I don’t”! And one got it from “the boy on the back of the box”.

SUMMARY of ALL SURVEYS

May 2010, Dec 2010 and May 2011.

511 High School Students (328 Females, 183 Males)

Milk
•Which milk is healthiest?
45% chose soy milk and 60% drink it. 44% are afraid of fat in the milk (chose non-fat or low-fat). 9% think whole milk, and 2% (12 people) chose raw milk.

Cholesterol
•71% think that cholesterol is either “a toxic substance found in our arteries” or ”a type of fat in foods, which we should avoid eating”.  13% really didn’t know. 16% picked the right answer: “A substance protecting cell membranes”.  30% of you had heard about “different kinds of cholesterol” – mainly HDL (good) and LDL (bad).

Butter and Oils
•98% do NOT think butter/ghee is good to cook. 47% think polyunsaturated oils are best to cook with and 41% chose olive oil and 10% canola oil.

Food and Drink Habits
•Few of you (13%) drink soda regularly. 44% drink fruit juice.

•81% eat meat quite often (maybe not grass-fed though) 16% eat meat rather seldom.  3% (3 people) are vegetarian. Nobody is vegan. (Good to hear!)

•“Popular” foods: Rice/Noodles – 80% eat these regularly.  46% usually eat eggs and 51% eat boxed cereals. 18% eat tofu.

•66% eat breakfast every day, 21% 3-5 days a week, and 12% skip breakfast.

•Soy products : 58% eat tofu, 24% eat edamame, 15% eat fermented soy products and 5% eat soy burgers.

Food Labels and Nutritional Information
•88% read food labels always or sometimes (twice as many females as males read them).12 % never reads them.

•Where do you get your nutritional information from?
Most of you indicated getting it from parents (70%) and health class (52%) followed by websites, health books/magazines.

Food Survey Dec 2010
183 high school students. 113 females 70 males.

Milk
•Which milk is healthiest?
41% chose soy milk and 52% drink it. 44% are afraid of fat in the milk (chose non-fat or low-fat). 14% think whole milk, and 2% (3 people) chose raw milk.

Cholesterol
•71% think that cholesterol is either “a toxic substance found in our arteries” or ”a type of fat in foods, which we should avoid eating”.  14% really didn’t know. 15% picked the right answer: “A substance protecting cell membranes”.  40% has heard about “different kinds of cholesterol” – such as HDL (good) and LDL (bad).

Butter and Oils
• 98% thinks butter/ghee is NOT good to cook with. 46% think polyunsaturated oils are best to cook with. 40% chose olive oil and 11% canola oil.

Food and Drink Habits
•Few of you (13%) drink soda regularly. 41% drink fruit juice.

•78% eat meat quite often (maybe not grass-fed though) 18% eat meat rather seldom.  4% (8 people) are vegetarian. Nobody is vegan. (Good to hear!)

•“Popular” foods: Rice/Noodles – 76% eat these regularly.  43% usually eat eggs and 51% eat boxed cereals. 17% eat tofu.

•68% eat breakfast every day, 21% 3-5 days a week, and 11% skip breakfast.

•Soy products : 51% eat tofu, 26% eat edamame, 15% eat fermented soy products and 5% eat soy burgers.

Food Labels and Nutritional Information
•86% read food labels always or sometimes (many more females than males read them: 64 vs. 25). 14% (14) never reads them.

•Where do you get your nutritional information from?
Most of you indicated getting it from parents (79%) and health class (51%) followed by websites, health books/magazines.

May 2010 Survey Results

226 high school students (143 females, 83 males).

Milk
•Which milk is healthiest?
52% chose soy milk and 63% drink it. 44% are afraid of fat in the milk (chose non-fat or low-fat). 4% think whole milk, and 4% (3 people) chose raw milk.

Cholesterol
•68% think that cholesterol is either “a toxic substance found in our arteries” or ”a type of fat in foods, which we should avoid eating”.  14% really didn’t know. 18% picked the right answer: “A substance protecting cell membranes”.  14% has heard about “different kinds of cholesterol” – such as HDL (good) and LDL (bad).

Butter and Oils
• 98% thinks butter/ghee is NOT good to cook with. 51% think polyunsaturated oils are best to cook with. 40% chose olive oil and 7% canola oil.

Food and Drink Habits
•Few of you (14%) drink soda regularly. 44% drink fruit juice.

•85% eat meat quite often (maybe not grass-fed though) 14% eat meat rather seldom.  2% (4 people) are vegetarian. Nobody is vegan. (Good to hear!)

•“Popular” foods: Rice/Noodles – 80% eat these regularly.  46% usually eat eggs and 50% eat boxed cereals. 19% eat tofu.

•66% eat breakfast every day, 20% 3-5 days a week, and 14% skip breakfast.

•Soy products : 62% eat tofu, 23% eat edamame, 14% eat fermented soy products and 4% eat soy burgers.

Food Labels and Nutritional Information
•88% read food labels always or sometimes (many more females than males read them: 64 vs. 25). 12% (27) never reads them.

•Where do you get your nutritional information from?
Most of you indicated getting it from parents (62%) and health class (46%) followed by websites, health books/magazines.

16th Avenue November 3, 2010:

Milk
3 of you thought whole milk was the healthiest, and 3 thought raw milk.
Nobody thought soy milk was the healthiest. (2 allergic to cow milk,1 allergic to soy).

Cholesterol
3 knew what cholesterol is. 3 did not.1 thought it was a toxic substance found in our arteries and 1 a type of fat in foods, which we should avoid eating.

Butter and Oils
Almost all of you thought butter or olive oil was best to cook with. 1 said canola.

Food and Drink Habits
6 of you ate breakfast every day and half of you usually eat eggs, and 3 of you eat rice/noodles and 2 eat boxed cereals. Only 1 usually skipped breakfast.

5 eat meat quite often; 2 rather seldom, but there were no vegetarians or vegans.

2 drink soy milk, and about half of you eat tofu and edamame and/or fermented soy products.
Nobody ate soy burgers.

Food Labels and Nutritional Information
Half of you selected parents/friends as the most important sources for health and nutrition advice, followed by books/magazines and websites.

All of you read food labels sometimes if not always.