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”.