Difficulties in trying to eat healthier: descriptive analysis of perceived barriers for healthy eating.

Abstract

The study demonstrates a great variability in the perceived barriers to healthy eating between different EU countries. Lack of time was the most frequently mentioned difficulty among EU subjects for not following nutritional advice (24% of total EU sample). This barrier was frequently reported by the younger and the higher education people. Other frequently reported barriers were giving up favourite foods (23%) and willpower (18%). Thus healthy diets do not appear to be viewed as an easy or attractive alternative to current diets. There was wide geographical variation in the number of subjects mentioning price as an important barrier to healthy eating (15% in overall EU sample) ranging from less than 10% in Germany and Italy to 23% in the UK and 24% in Luxembourg.