Diet low in sugar, low in fat, vegetarian, gluten free Where without salt… Allergies, intolerances and personal convictions increasingly punctuate the way we eat, according to a Nielsen survey which relied on 30,000 Internet users in 63 different countries. This study reveals that 64% of people questioned follow a diet that prohibits them from consuming certain foods or ingredients. Of these diets, more than a third (36%) are dictated by an allergy or intolerance to one or more foods. Those who come up most often on the prohibited list are the dairy products and shellfish, each cited by 12% of participants.
45% vegetarians in India
The survey also reveals that the regimes observe regional disparities. Thus, 80% of participants in Africa and 84% of those in the Middle East observe a diet prohibiting at least one specific food. 48% of the halal diet is mentioned in these regions. In Asia and the Pacific, 72% of participants are on a diet. For 19%, it is a vegetarian diet which exceeds the world average of 14%. Champion of this category: India, which has 45% vegetarians and 16% vegans. In North America, only 50% of consumers are on a diet, and this figure drops to 44% in Europe.
Sugar, the most banned food from the French diet
What about the diets of our compatriots? France is below the European average, with only 37% of consumers observing a diet. At the top of the foods banned from the diet: sugar. 21% of French people surveyed limit it and 7% follow a low-carbohydrate diet, such as ketogenic diet. Then come low fat diets (18%) followed by low salt diets (10%). Gluten-free or lactose-free diets only concern 3% of French people each. As for vegetarians: they are only 4% in France, more than three times less than the world average. The number of vegans (or “vegan”) drops to 2%.
A diet to preserve your health
But why opt for such diets? In 70% of cases, consumers talk about preserving their health. These diets are most often adopted to limit theobesity, the diabetes, L’hypercholesterolemiaor thehypertension. And for good reason : “According to the World Health Organization, chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer are expected to account for 73% of deaths worldwide by 2020, up from around 60% in 2001“, recalls the Nielsen group in a press release.
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