What People Know about Nutrition Introduction

Recent years have seen a tremendous growth in scientific knowledge
of the relationship between diet and health. This increase in knowledge
has informed dietary recommendations to promote health and
longevity and has sparked national campaigns to educate Americans
on more healthful eating habits. But how has this affected the average
person? Does the typical American know much about nutrition?
Is the average level of nutrition knowledge on the rise? And what
implications does this have for changing eating habits?
Using data from a variety of public and private sources—including
the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Health and Diet Survey
(HDS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Diet and

Health Knowledge Survey (DHKS), the Food Marketing Institute’s
(FMI) Trends Survey, and the American Dietetic Association’s
(ADA) 1995 Nutrition Trends Survey1—we examine the level of
nutrition knowledge among American consumers and trends in nutrition
knowledge levels over time. The extent and limitation of consumers
’ nutrition knowledge—what people know and do not know
about nutrition—and the implications for changing dietary behavior
will be considered.