14 DAY TRIAL // The issue of the obesity pandemic that is slowly taking over the world has been so strongly emphasized in the US that we have often been misled into believing this was the one country most affected by it. Nevertheless, a new study comes to show that the true “fast-food nation” is actually Bulgaria, and not the United States as most people believed, USA Today informs.
According to a survey performed in 12 countries around the world on 10,300 respondents and their relationship with fast food, market research firm Synovate has learned that the US is far from being the fast-food nation, since it’s Bulgaria that is right now enjoying its “honeymoon” with it, recording the biggest percentage of people who say they love it so much they simply could not envision life without it. Ironically enough, fewer Americans feel this way, and a higher percentage of them even feel guilty afterwards and work out the extra calories they ingested, the research has also established.
Whereas 44 percent of Americans admit to loving fast food too much to give it up, people in Bulgaria with similar preferences are as many as 68 percent. Malaysia comes in third with 20 percent of diehard fast-food lovers, while Sweden ranks in fourth with 19 percent.
Greg Chu, senior vice president of health care for Synovate in North America, says that the findings of the survey are a clear indication that the focus on the US as the biggest consumer of fast-food has not changed, despite the fact that the reality is different now from what it was years ago in this respect. More specifically, Americans have now a “love-hate” relationship with food, in that “We love the convenience. We love the taste. We love the assurance that you can count on it. But we know it’s not good for us.” as Chu puts it.
According to USA Today, the other findings of the study in terms of fast food consumption in the countries surveyed (Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the USA) can be summarized as follows:
- 29% of all respondents admit to turning to junk food when they’re feeling down. The US is the country with the highest numbers in this sense: 45%, with 54% of women and 35% of men.
- 37% of all respondents claim they exercise to make up for giving in to junk food. The US ranks lowest with 26% of people who say they put in an extra effort, whereas China ranks highest with 71%.
- 55% of all respondents say they pay no attention to what they eat, claiming they usually have whatever they want, wherever they want. Only 37% of Americans admit to doing that.
- 12% of Americans weigh themselves daily; 11% once every few days; 14% weekly; and 15% when they can no longer fit in their older clothes, or these become too tight. 20% only weigh themselves from time to time, when they remember to do so, while an incredibly small 4% never step on a scale.
- Overall, of all respondents, 5% weigh themselves daily; 10% once every few days; 13% once a week; 7% whenever their clothes are getting too tight; 32% whenever they remember; and 19% don’t weigh themselves.