• Bloomberg, Wednesday, July 7, 2010 10:39 AM

All the proposals to get a grip on the national obesity epidemic -- from taxes on sodas to printed calorie counts in restaurant menus -- may be for naught without educating consumers on the nutritional value and proper consumption levels of food, Alan Bjerga reports. Only one of every eight adult Americans knows how many calories he or she should consume in a day, according to a new survey taken for the International Food Information Council Foundation, whose educational arm includes representatives from General Mills, Kraft and Mars.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans have recently changed eating habits, mainly to lose weight, the survey finds, but they appear to be groping for solutions in the dark. "Despite the amount of information out there, people still don't understand," says Marianne Smith Edge, svp for nutrition and food safety for the foundation.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents consider themselves overweight, with 8% saying they are obese, Bjerga writes. But the reality is that 33% are overweight and 34% obese. In addition, 77% are not meeting the Health and Human Services Department's physical-activity guidelines.

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