Food Standards Scotland research reveals young women make less healthy food choices when eating out

Food Standards Scotland has published the results of its fifth Food in Scotland Consumer Tracking Survey which reveal that although more women than men believe they eat healthily, young women are less likely to make healthy food choices when eating out of the home.

The survey, which measures the Scottish public’s attitudes to diet, nutrition, food safety and authenticity, found that women aged 16-34 were more likely (61%) to report that they tend to eat less healthily in restaurants, cafes, from takeaways or on the go, compared to the national average of 48%.

The survey also told us that price has the biggest influence when choosing where to eat out for this group of women at 75% and they considered healthy food options to be less important (22%).

In addition, this group of women in Scotland were almost one third more likely than Scotland as a whole to agree that the price of food means they don’t often buy the food they’d like to (65% v 47%).

Overall 77% believe the nation needs to make significant changes to what they eat.  47% of adults recognise that they eat too many treats every day and young women are the most aware of the changes they need to make to their diets -  59% say they know they eat too many snacks such as cakes and biscuits daily and 62% know they need to do something to eat more healthily compared to the national average of 54%.

The tracker survey is developed to measure changes in attitudes and knowledge in Scotland in relation to food with the first research carried out in 2015.

*Statistics based on females, aged 16 to 34, in the lowest social economic groups (C1C2DE). This research was conducted in preparation for the upcoming FSS marketing campaign.