Fast food addiction, obesity and other weighty issues

From obesity to home gyms, from fast food addiction to herbal supplements, Synovate today released data that shows that across the world people have conflicting attitudes and behaviours when it comes to managing their weight.

Synovate's Global Head of Media, Steve Garton, said that these conflicts can be seen across cultures as well as within individuals.

"People are inherently contradictory and nowhere is it more obvious than on such a sensitive and important issue as their weight. The results show there's a world of people who cannot deny themselves that hamburger or extra piece of pizza, but probably make themselves feel better by washing it down with a diet cola."

The findings come from a global survey that looked at weight management among more than 9,000 respondents across 13 countries on five continents - the United Kingdom, France, Czech Republic, Romania, the United States, Canada, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

Off-the-scale behaviour

Fifteen percent of French people and 12% of Americans weigh themselves every single day, while at the other end of the spectrum only 15% of Hong Kongers get on the scales once or more every week.

"We wanted to see whether people were habitually thinking about their weight and monitoring it," Garton said.

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Food as fuel or pleasure?

The study asked a series of attitudinal questions which respondents agreed or disagreed with. Garton said this was the clincher in realising just how conflicted people seem to be about food.

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The number one fast food nation

The Synovate study also uncovered the number one fast food nation. When asked to agree or disagree with the statement 'I like the taste of fast food too much to give it up', the most addicted nation was the United Kingdom with 45% agreeing.

"Britons love their fish and chips, but only beat the Americans to the punch on fast food addiction by a small margin of one percent. A hefty 44% of Americans cannot give up burgers, pizza and wings, with the next most addicted nation Canada at 37%," Garton said.

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Obesity: A weighty issue

Obesity is a global issue. It is reaching epidemic proportions in developed nations and many developing countries now also have problems.

Synovate asked people what they believed the main cause of obesity was and found that 40% of all people attribute food as the culprit - 20% chose 'unhealthy food choices' and another 20% chose 'unhealthy food habits like eating at irregular hours'.

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Losing it

The Synovate survey asked what steps people took when their weight creeps past a certain threshold.

When people are having no joy with their zippers, more choose to address weight issues with measures related to food rather than exercise. The most popular choice globally was 'reduce food intake' at 47%, followed by 'increase physical activity' at 43% and 'change the types of food that you eat' at 35%.

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Home gyms, low-fat foods and weight loss programmes

The study asked respondents whether they were using a series of measures to either reduce or maintain their weight. Despite the growing girth of many nations, the most popular choice was using none of these measures at all at 40%.

However, a third of all people employ low-fat food products in their weight management regime and 22% use home exercise equipment. Tackling exercise at home was most prevalent in the United States and the United Arab Emirates (one third of all people say they use home equipment), Canada (31%) and the United Kingdom (30%).

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