Eating behaviour reveals increased consumption of sugar, salt
The Economic Intelligence Center (EIC) has published the results of a behaviour analysis of Thais aged six years old and up between 2013 and 2017, which found an interesting change in Thai eating habits.
The survey, which was carried out for the National Statistical Office and targetted subjects from 28,000 households, found 22.1 per cent of Thai people selected their dishes based on preference, 18.5 per cent on taste, 18.2 per cent based their decisions on sudden cravings, 17.8 per cent picked their meals because of hygiene, 12.9 per cent chose food based on its nutritional value, 6.5 per cent for accessibility, and 4 per cent on price. The information suggests that Thai people favour preferences over health benefits.
Happiness from eating increased from 57.1 per cent in 2013 to 58.8 per cent in 2017 while the nutrient quotient dropped from 32.2 per cent in 2013 to 30.7 in 2017. Preference, which previously came third in the rankings, replaced the earlier highest scorer of taste, indicating that customers choose restaurants for presentation and service rather than the food itself. Price remained the least important factor.
Thai people who had three meals a day increased from 88.0 per cent in 2013 to 89.4 per cent in 2017 and those who had more than three increased from 3.8 per cent in 2013 to 4.1 per cent in 2017. The increase was found in children aged between 6-14 years and teenagers aged between 15-24 years while people aged 25 years old tended to have fewer than three meals.
The consumption of sugary food rose from 11.2 per cent in 2013 to 14.2 per cent in 2017 and that of salty food from 13.0 per cent to 13.8 per cent. Children tended to consume more sugary food while teenagers and working ages preferred saltier food.
Even though 98.8 per cent of Thai people consumed vegetables and fruits at least one day a week, the proportion of vegetable and fruit consumption dropped from 54.5 per cent to 41.1 per cent in every age range, sex, and region.
Fortunately, more Thai people were apparently dieting, with 12.4 per cent of those who ate fewer than three meals taking food supplements. This was particularly noticeable among female respondents, increasing from 14.1 per cent to 19.2 per cent.