title: Which foods contain dietary fibre? The beliefs of a random sample of the British population.
abstract: Over 7000 participants in the Health and Lifestyle Survey were asked whether they thought each of ten common foods contained fibre. Five of these foods were fibre-free and five contained fibre. The overall proportions of respondents giving correct answers for each food were (as percentages): Weetabix 93.4, digestive biscuits 80.0, eggs 78.7, cheese 74.5, orange juice 66.2, grilled fish 57.2, roast meat 50.7, apples 49.8, potatoes 46.4 and white bread 41.7. Less than 30 per cent of the respondents gave eight or more correct answers. Those in the middle years (aged 30-59) gave the highest number of correct answers, and those aged over 70 the fewest. Amongst the 18-29 year old group, those with low educational achievement scored particularly badly. The likelihood of giving correct responses to potatoes, apples, eggs, cheese, orange juice and grilled fish was positively associated with the level of education for most age groups in both sexes. Women were better informed than men about the foods containing fibre except for white bread (Chi-squared, P less than 0.01 in each case). The mean scores (+/- s.e.m.) of correct answers given by medical practitioners and nurses were 8.00 (+/- 0.39) and 7.50 (+/- 0.12) respectively compared to 7.43 (+/- 0.07) by the other respondents with similar educational achievements. There were close associations between correct answers for certain groups of foods.
authors.affiliation: University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Fenner's, UK.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Whichelow
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000032:analysis*; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D005504:Food Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires