New Survey: One Year After 9-11, American Eating Habits Take Healthier Turn

American Institute for Cancer Research
Thursday, 22 August 2002

Many are Struggling to Lose Weight Gained After Attacks by Exercising More, Eating Lighter

According to a new survey commissioned by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), an overwhelming majority of Americans say that the events of September 11, 2001, have not had a significant long-term impact on their day-to-day eating habits, for good or ill. However, one in 10 Americans say they gained weight in the months immediately following the attacks, and most are still struggling to lose those extra pounds.

"Immediately after the attacks, there was a lot of conjecture that Americans were turning to unhealthy eating behaviors, and our initial survey in November 2001 showed that to be the case for about 20 percent of Americans - which represented about 56 million people," said AICR's Director of Nutrition Education, Melanie Polk, R.D. "We commissioned a follow-up survey to see how Americans are faring today."

Together, the November survey and new August 2002 follow-up confirm that most Americans did not respond to September 11 by changing their dietary patterns. The surveys do show, however, that a small but significant percentage of Americans turned to unhealthy habits and persist in them. Surprisingly, more than one quarter of the population say they are making some healthy changes since the attacks of last fall.

"The good news is that the small percentage of Americans who say they are now exercising more often has nearly doubled - from 7 percent in November to 12 percent today," said Polk. At the same time, 26 percent say they are opting for lighter foods like salads and soups more often than they did before September 11.

For the most part, however, Americans say they have made no changes in the amount they eat, drink alcohol, or snack, while a minority admits to making unhealthy changes in the type of food they choose.

In the survey, 15 percent confessed they were turning to comfort foods more than they did before September 11, 2001. Another 14 percent reported eating more sweets than they were before the terrorist attacks.

These numbers represent a slight but encouraging drop-off from the previous AICR survey, conducted exactly two months after the terror attacks on New York and Washington. That survey revealed a country still reeling with grief and shock. At that time, 20 percent of Americans said they had found themselves eating more comfort foods, while 19 percent reported eating more sweet, sugary foods.

There were no other statistically significant differences between responses to the two surveys, which also asked about the amount of food respondents ate, the amount of alcohol they consumed, the amount they cooked at home, and other issues.

In some cases, Polk said, the fact that the survey numbers have held so steady over the course of a year is surprising. "I don't think any of us expected to see the numbers for comfort foods and sweets stay so high, a full year away from the event," she said. But Polk was also struck by the fact that, then and now, the vast majority of Americans maintained the status quo.

Ninety percent said they were eating the same amount of food, 79 percent said they were cooking at home exactly as often as they did before the attacks, and 73 percent said the amount of alcohol they drank had not changed. The percentage of Americans who said they found themselves eating more rich or fatty foods also held steady, from 13 percent in November to 12 percent now.

Behaviorist Expresses Puzzlement, Concern over Survey Findings

John P. Foreyt, Ph.D., of the Behavioral Medicine Center at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine, studies how emotional responses impact patterns of food consumption. Last November, Dr. Foreyt expressed shock that so many Americans were holding onto unhealthy behaviors a full two months after the attacks.

One year later, Dr. Foreyt's confusion and concern over the survey results remain. "It looks like people are slowly - very slowly - returning to their pre-attack behavioral patterns, but it's taking a remarkably long time," he said. "Many of us expected a temporary change for the worse, because any large stress can cause people to revert to childhood behavior patterns. Normally, however, such changes last no longer than three to six months."

Dr. Foreyt believes the sheer magnitude of the events on September 11, 2001 is the reason the unhealthy changes revealed in the AICR survey have held on for so long.

Foreyt was particularly puzzled by the healthy changes that showed up in both surveys. One in four Americans (27 percent) said in November that they had started to make a healthy change by eating more salads and light soups, and the latest survey found that ratio has remained unchanged (26 percent.) In addition, the number of people who said they were exercising more increased by a statistically significant five percent.

"That increase in healthy behaviors is harder to explain," Foreyt said, "but I think it's quite possible that the attacks gave some individuals a sense of their own mortality. I think what we're seeing is that many Americans were motivated to make certain positive changes in how they eat and live."

At the time of the first survey, AICR experts expressed concern that those individuals who had turned to unhealthy eating behaviors in the wake of the attacks might find it difficult to get back on track before the holiday season began. To gauge the effect of the attacks on American waistlines, the new AICR survey asked a series of additional questions about weight change, and its perceived causes.

Nine Percent Experience Post-9/11 Weight Gain

"We'll never know the precise extent to which the terrorist attacks influenced people to turn toward unhealthy behaviors," said AICR's Polk, "because the attacks occurred at a time of the year when the weather gets colder and Americans traditionally transition to richer, heartier fare.

"It's also hard to gauge just how much of an effect the attacks had on weight gain, because the holiday season is a time when self-imposed rules about diet and exercise are relaxed, and it's easier to pack on a few extra pounds," she said.

"But we can and did ask Americans to tell us what they thought, and what they said is surprising."

Nine percent of those surveyed said they had gained weight "in the months immediately following the terrorist attacks." Of that nine percent, most were unlikely to implicate the attacks as a reason for their weight gain.

When asked why they believed they had gained weight, most - 47 percent - attributed the extra pounds to miscellaneous "personal reasons." Another 23 percent blamed a less strict diet during the holiday season, and 14 percent said their weight gain was due to the heartier foods they ate over the winter.

In the end, less than one-tenth of those who said they gained weight attributed their weight gain to anxiety over the terrorist attacks.

"That's not a large percentage by any means, but it represents some 2.3 million people," Polk said.

Still Struggling to Get the Weight Off

Almost half (43 percent) of those who said they gained weight following the attacks said they had lost none of that extra weight. Another 37 percent reported losing only some of the weight. Only 18 percent said they had managed to lose most or all of the extra weight.

Fully 94 percent of Americans said their eating habits had not changed permanently in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

Conducted for AICR by International Communications Research (ICR), the new survey involved 1,002 adults, 18 years or older, chosen at random. Respondents were interviewed by telephone over a five-day period in mid-August 2002.

For more information, or to contact American Institute for Cancer Research, see their website at: www.aicr.org