May 30th, 2022, Rishad Dsouza
A YouGov Profiles study of adults in Britain and the US reveals that sugar levels are among the most prominent concerns with respect to food consumption.
A third of Brits (32%) and two-fifths of Americans (39%) indicate that they keep an eye on sugar levels in the foods they are consuming. For Britons, freshness tops the list of concerns, with almost half of them saying so (45%). But sugar levels top the list of concerns among consumers in the US, which has one of the highest obesity rates in the developed world – an issue that has been linked to the prevalence of sugar in American diets.
Freshness rates as the second biggest concern among consumers in the US (37%), and a third of them are also concerned about salt levels (33%). Three in ten are on the lookout for fat content (28%) and calorie count (28%) in the foods they consume.
A significant portion of Americans are also concerned about the origins of their food, with 17% saying they take into consideration where the food is grown, raised or reared. A similar portion of them is concerned about whether the food is produced in the US (16%). Roughly one in six Americans also keep tabs on the carb (16%) and protein content (15%) of their food.
Like their counterparts across the pond, three in ten Brits say they are concerned about the fat content and calories in food. A quarter of them worry about whether the food is free-range (26%) and also about salt levels (24%).
One in five Brits pay attention to where the food comes from (21%) and whether it is British (21%).
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Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.