MANY AMERICANS THINK THEY MAKE HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES,
BUT THEY MAY BE VIEWING THEIR DIET TOO OPTIMISTICALLY.
THAT'S THE MAIN FINDING OF A NEW STUDY BY RESEARCHERS AT THE U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN STONEVILLE, MISSISSIPPI.
THE STUDY AIMED TO IDENTIFY DISCONNECTS BETWEEN
HOW HEALTHILY AMERICANS THINK THEY EAT AND HOW THEY ACTUALLY DO.
FOR THE STUDY, THE RESEARCHERS ASKED PARTICIPANTS TO RATE THEIR DIET AS EXCELLENT,
VERY GOOD, GOOD, FAIR, OR POOR. FOLKS ALSO COMPLETED 24-HOUR FOOD QUESTIONNAIRES.
THEN, THE RESEARCHERS COMPARED ANSWERS TO SEE HOW WELL RESPONSES
TO THE TWO EXERCISES MATCHED UP. OF MORE THAN 9,700 PEOPLE,
ROUGHLY 85 PERCENT WERE OFF BASE WHEN ASKED TO RATE THE QUALITY OF THEIR DIET,
AND ALMOST ALL OVERESTIMATED HOW HEALTHY IT WAS.
THOSE WHO RATED THEIR DIET AS POOR TENDED TO BE FAR MORE ACCURATE.
THEIR RATING MATCHED THAT OF THE RESEARCHERS MORE THAN NINE TIMES OUT OF TEN.
QUESTIONS 3 AND 4 ARE BASED ON THE NEWS REPORT YOU HAVE JUST HEARD.
WHAT IS THE MAIN FINDING OF A NEW STUDY ABOUT MANY AMERICANS?
WHO TENDED TO RATE THEIR DIET MORE ACCURATELY IN THE SURVEY?