Majority of Americans Think Prepackaged Diet Meals are Not Healthy and Sustainable

Many Americans have seen commercials or advertisements for low carb, low fat, prepackaged diet meals that are available in grocery stores or for delivery to their home to help them lose weight. Poll Position wanted to know if consumers thought these diet programs were healthy and sustainable.

A Poll Position national scientific survey asked respondents, ‘Do you think diet programs based on purchasing and eating prepackaged meals is healthy and sustainable?’

A majority of Americans, 59% said no it is not healthy and sustainable, 17% said yes it is healthy and sustainable and 25% did not offer an opinion.

Women were more skeptical and decisive than men on the issue.

Among women, 65% said prepackaged diet meals are not healthy and sustainable, 16% said it was healthy and sustainable and 19% had no opinion.

Men weighed in with 52% saying prepackaged meals are not healthy and sustainable, 18% said they are healthy and sustainable and a large number of men - 30% - either had no opinion or did not know enough about the meal programs to answer.

African-Americans were most receptive to the programs with 30% saying prepackaged are healthy and sustainable, 47% said they are not and 23% did not have an opinion.

Whites were not as receptive with 59% saying prepackaged meals are not healthy or lasting, 17% said they are and 24% had no opinion to offer.

Young people in the 18-29 age group had the lowest number of no opinion answers and were most against the diet meal programs with 72% saying they are not healthy and sustainable, 20% said they are and only 7% did not have an opinion to offer.

To see a listing of many of these prepackaged meal programs go to http://www.everydiet.org/packaged_food_diets.htm.

Poll Position’s scientific telephone survey of 1,113 registered voters nationwide was conducted January 24, 2012 and has a margin of error of ±3%. Poll results are weighted to be a representative sampling of all American adults.

See a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation in crosstabs for this poll at http://media.pollposition.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/Poll-Position-Crosstabs-Pre-prepared-diet-meals.pdf.

Poll Position’s scientific telephone survey of 1,113 registered voters nationwide was conducted January 24, 2012 and has a margin of error of ±3%. Poll results are weighted to be a representative sampling of all American adults.

Do you think diet programs based on purchasing and eating prepackaged meals is healthy and sustainable? Vote in the online companion poll and comment at http://pollposition.com/2012/01/29/diet-meals-healthy-and-lasting/.

The online companion poll in which you can vote provides unscientific results, meaning it’s a tally of participating Poll Position users, not a nationally representative sampling.

Poll Position is committed to transparency and upholding the highest professional standards in its polling, explaining why we provide you with the crosstabs of our scientific polls. Crosstabs provide a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation.