Table 2.
Perception of diet compared with actual mean daily intakes of junk foods (JF) and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) collected over the 4 d mobile food record (mFR), by gender; young adults aged 18–30 years, Perth, Western Australia, Connecting Health and Technology study
| Actual mean daily servings of JF over 4 d mFR | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men (n 84) | Women (n 158) | Total sample (n 242) | ||||||||||
| Perception of junk food intake | n | % | Mean | sd | n | % | Mean | sd | n | % | Mean | sd |
| ‘I already eat a diet low in junk food’ | 20 | 24 | 2·3 | 1·5 | 44 | 28 | 2·6 | 1·3 | 64 | 26 | 2·5 | 1·4 |
| ‘I am currently trying to eat less junk food’ | 30 | 36 | 3·1 | 1·6 | 68 | 43 | 3·4 | 1·5 | 98 | 41 | 3·3 | 1·5 |
| ‘I am thinking about cutting down the amount of junk food I eat‘ | 19 | 22 | 3·6 | 2·3 | 38 | 24 | 3·5 | 1·4 | 57 | 23 | 3·5 | 1·7 |
| ‘I am not thinking about cutting down on the amount of junk food I eat’ | 15 | 18 | 4·6** | 2·4 | 8 | 5 | 2·5 | 0·7 | 23 | 10 | 3·8 | 2·2 |
| Actual mean daily servings of SSB over 4 d mFR | ||||||||||||
| Men (n 85) | Women (n 160) | Total sample (n 245) | ||||||||||
| Perception of sugary drink intake | n | % | Mean | sd | n | % | Mean | sd | n | % | Mean | sd |
| ‘I don’t drink sugary drinks’ | 4 | 5 | 0·1 | 0·1 | 13 | 8 | 0·3 | 0·6 | 17 | 7 | 0·2 | 0·5 |
| ‘I already drink very little sugary drinks’ | 31 | 36 | 0·2 | 0·3 | 82 | 51 | 0·3 | 0·4 | 113 | 46 | 0·3 | 0·4 |
| ‘I am currently trying to drink less sugary drinks (soft drinks, cordial, energy drinks or sports drinks)’ | 24 | 28 | 0·6 | 0·7 | 42 | 26 | 0·6 | 0·5 | 66 | 27 | 0·6 | 0·6 |
| ‘I am thinking about trying to drink less sugary drinks’ | 13 | 15 | 0·7* | 0·5 | 9 | 6 | 1·5 | 1·2 | 22 | 9 | 1·0 | 0·9 |
| ‘I am not thinking about cutting down on the amount of sugary drinks I have’ | 13 | 15 | 1·2* | 0·9 | 14 | 9 | 0·5 | 0·4 | 27 | 11 | 0·8 | 0·7 |
| Actual mean daily servings of JF+SSB over 4 d mFR | ||||||||||||
| Men (n 85) | Women (n 159) | Total sample (n 244) | ||||||||||
| Attention paid to health aspects of diet | n | % | Mean | sd | n | % | Mean | sd | n | % | Mean | sd |
| ‘I pay a lot of attention to the health aspects of the food I eat to make sure my diet is as healthy as possible‘ | 11 | 13 | 2·2 | 1·9 | 29 | 18 | 2·8 | 1·6 | 40 | 16 | 2·6 | 1·7 |
| ‘I take a bit of notice of the health aspects of the food I eat to make sure I have a fairly good diet’ | 50 | 59 | 3·9 | 2·0 | 97 | 60 | 3·6 | 1·7 | 147 | 60 | 3·7 | 1·8 |
| ‘I don’t really think much about the health aspects of the food I eat’ | 22 | 26 | 4·4 | 2·7 | 29 | 18 | 4·2 | 1·8 | 51 | 21 | 4·3 | 2·2 |
| ‘I don’t think at all about the health aspects of the food I eat’ | 2 | 2 | 6·1 | 0·3 | 4 | 3 | 4·2 | 2·2 | 6 | 3 | 4·8 | 2·0 |
Significant differences between men and women (dependent variable: JF or SSB intake): *P<0·05, **P<0·01.