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Confused about what’s healthy? A new nutrition survey shows you’re not alone.

If I asked you, “Who do you trust?” you would probably name a friend or family member — unless the topic is nutrition. Odds are your nearest and dearest are not your most trusted sources for nutrition information, even though there’s an excellent chance that you rely on them to decide what to eat. Maybe that’s why Americans are getting a failing grade in nutrition literacy, according to findings from the International Food Information Council Foundation’s 12th annual Food and Health Survey.We don’t consume just food, we consume information about food, and the information buffet is more loaded than ever. To varying degrees, we listen to advice from not just experienced nutrition professionals, but also from health coaches, personal trainers, social media, bloggers, television, government agencies and food companies. Is our inability to determine the best, most reliable sources of information getting in the way of the improved health we almost universally seek?Friends and family trailed only personal health-care professionals as sources of information about what foods to eat or avoid. Yet respondents ranked friends and family as low on the trustworthiness scale (health providers rated high) for information on what foods to eat and avoid. Your immediate circle is also probably the biggest influence on your decision to follow a specific eating pattern or diet — with health-care providers and registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) lagging behind.

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The Washington Post
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