Eating Your Fruits and Veggies for Weight Loss

Increasing the Amount of Vegetables, Fruit in Diet
Remains the Leading Weight-Loss Strategy in U.S.

New AICR Survey Shows Overwhelming Support for
"Common-Sense" Weight Management

WASHINGTON -- According to a new survey of dietary behavior commissioned by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), 4 in 5 weight-conscious Americans turn to salads, vegetables and fruits when trying to shed a few pounds. The fact that a clear majority of Americans are still adopting this old-fashioned, common-sense approach, even amid a low-carb marketing craze, is encouraging news to health experts concerned about the state of nutrition in the U.S.

The survey results seem to agree with the findings from other recent surveys of consumer beliefs and behaviors, which have indicated that low-carb dieting is on the wane – or perhaps that the low-carb approach was never truly the widespread phenomenon its food industry proponents hoped it would be.

"Low-carb products and diet books have been promoted so effectively that many people think cutting carbs has somehow become the conventional wisdom for weight loss," says Melanie Polk, RD, AICR's Director of Nutrition Education. "This new survey is reassuring to those of us whose job it is to educate the public; it shows that most Americans are sticking with a tried-and-true method for safe, steady and long-lasting weight management."

[To read more about new clinical research demonstrating how meals focused on vegetables: fruits and other plant foods aid weight loss -- and to learn precisely why they do so, read the backgrounder called "Plant Foods and Weight Management -- The Science Behind Energy Density." ]

Cutting Carbs Comes in Third

AICR commissioned a telephone survey of 1,011 Americans aged 18 and older who were telephoned randomly between October 22 and October 26. Respondents were first asked if they had ever tried to lose weight.

Nearly 7 in 10 (65 percent) said they had tried to lose weight at some point in the past. This group was then asked a series of follow-up questions about the specific changes they made to their diets the last time they tried to lose weight. Five different diet-related changes were listed, and respondents could choose more than one answer. (For this reason, the percentages in Table I, below, are not additive.)


Table I

Thinking about the last time you tried to lose weight, which of the following changes, if any, did you make to your diet? Did you...

...increase the amount of salads, vegetables and fruits in your diet?	81%
...decrease the amount of fat in your diet?	76%
...decrease the amount of carbohydrates in your diet?	60%
...increase the amount of meat, eggs and other proteins in your diet?	38%
...increase the amount of packaged diet meals and diet drinks in your diet?	21%

These results are in step with an earlier AICR survey, which asked about the topic in slightly different way. This earlier question, part of AICR's Reshaping the Plate Report released in July 2004, focused on the 60 percent of Americans who said they thought the kind of food they eat is more important for weight loss than the amount of food they eat.

Curious about how such a belief influenced their food consumption, AICR asked this group, "So what kind of foods do you eat more of when you want to lose weight?" Answers were unprompted, and respondents were allowed to name any food or foods they wished. Once again, the majority of respondents (68 percent) said they ate more salads, vegetables and fruits when trying to lose weight. Far fewer (36 percent) said they ate more meat, chicken, and other protein. Less than 1 in 5 (17 percent) said they ate more commercially prepared "diet foods" of the low-carb, low-calorie, or low-fat variety.

"No matter how you phrase the question, there's one clear and gratifying conclusion: Americans aren't flocking to quick-fix promises and unbalanced nutrition," says AICR's Polk. "Instead, they're sticking with a strategy that feels right to them. It's a strategy their parents and grandparents practiced, because it agrees with that deep, instinctive sense we all have that diets high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans help us stay healthy -- and keep excess weight at bay."

Evidence Attests to a Growing Return to Common-Sense Dieting

Other surveys have indicated that low-carb lifestyles are on the wane. According to PARADE Magazine's 2004 "What America Eats" survey published in November, 38 percent of Americans now consider low-carb diets unhealthy. A majority (56 percent) of Americans say they "never think about carbohydrates" when buying or eating food.

According to a survey by NPD Group, Inc., the number of Americans following low-carb diets hit a high of 9 percent in February 2004 and had fallen to 6 percent by June.

In still another survey conducted by online research firm InsightExpress and released in July 2004, half of Americans who have tried low-carb diets said they had given them up, and the number of people trying them for the first time was shrinking.

The August 26 issue of Forbes magazine profiled a recently launched low-carb food store in Southern California now facing deep debt because its inventory of "carb-free" products was languishing on the shelves.

Even the Grocery Manufacturers of America, which represents many of the food processors who tried to cash in on the fad with new "low-carb" products, sees interest in these items fizzling out. "Both anecdote and statistics indicate that 'low-carb' items aren't drawing the way they used to," spokesman Michael E. Diegel said in September.

Health Experts Heartened by Healthy Turn in Public Awareness

"The best advice for taking off pounds and keeping them off is to eat a balanced diet weighted towards vegetables and fruits, reduce portion sizes and increase physical activity," says Polk.

"That isn't the flashiest advice to give, and it never will be," she says. "It doesn't promise results in days, or that pounds and inches will 'melt away.' It isn't a 'miracle' diet and it doesn't banish entire food groups from the table. But it's heartening to see that the majority of Americans still realize that by following this clear, simple, common-sense advice, the weight will come off, and it will stay off."

Copyright (c) 2005, The American Institute for Cancer Research. Reprinted with permission.

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is the cancer charity that fosters research on diet and cancer and educates the public about the results. It has contributed more than $70 million for innovative research conducted at universities, hospitals and research centers across the country. AICR also provides a wide range of educational programs to help millions of Americans learn to make dietary changes for lower cancer risk. Its award-winning New American Plate program is presented in brochures, seminars and on its website, www.aicr.org. AICR is a member of the World Cancer Research Fund International.