Romir and Rospotrebnadzor studied people’s attitude to healthy eating

Romir jointly with Rospotrebnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare), carried out a large-scale study on the nutrition that Russian citizens get. It was organized within the framework of the federal program called “Strengthening Public Health” which in its self falls under the national project called “Demography”.

The study allowed us to examine the attitude of Russians to healthy eating, as well as to understand the problematic aspects and issues of concern. Thanks to Romir’s Research Panel data we were able to understand the cross-consumption of Russians and correlate these results with the respondents’ socio-economic characteristics.

According to Ksenia Paizanskaya, Director of Romir Consumer Scan Panel, the study was carried out in two stages – first we gathered data from a large sample and then examined this over time. Residents of 220 Russian cities aged from 18 to 65 took part in the study.

Romir’s experts found out that over the past two years, healthy eating has ceased to be just a “fashion for rich people”. The attitude of people has changed, now it is a natural need for many to keep to a good and balanced diet.

The study also showed that 78% of the respondents have a positive attitude to a healthy lifestyle; 30% of them have positively changed their attitude to healthy eating over the past two years, and 48% have long been positive about healthy eating.

According to the respondents, healthy eating is the main component of a healthy lifestyle. “A healthy lifestyle is a system of eating the right food” - this was the most popular answer of Russians (72% of the respondents). In general, during the pandemic, Russians began to pay more attention to healthy and balanced diets, to be more conscious about the choice and consumption of food, and pay more attention to the ingredients indicated on the labels. 

The results of the study were presented during a press conference at the site of Komsomolskaya Pravda Media Group. During the press conference, the psychologist, radio presenter, head of New Horizon Psychology Center Anetta Orlova noted that during the pandemic, people’s lifestyle and consciousness have been changing; self-regard, maintaining the quality of life, and consequently, healthy eating has come to the fore.

During the conference, experts also noted the importance of working with children and youth. According to the presented research carried out by Romir, these are the most inert respondents. Earlier, a sample survey of schoolchildren carried out by Rospotrebnadzor revealed that 18% of schoolchildren are overweight and 8% suffered from obesity; in some regions, the percentage of overweight elementary school children exceeds 30%.

Rospotrebnadzor continues a large-scale study of schoolchildren’s nutrition to adjust diets and make recommendations. In 2021, the study covered 49 RF regions. The nutrition of pupils was evaluated in 2,979 schools, 43.9 thousand people were interviewed. This issue was highlighted in detail by Irina Novikova, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Director of Federal Budgetary Institution of Science Novosibirsk Research Institute of Hygiene of Rospotrebnadzor.