Hello.
The most recent study containing the sort of data that you seek was
published in September 2002 by the American Dietetic Association.
Here is a link to the National Library of Medicine's abstract of the
study:
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Sept 2002 v102 i9
p1247(5)
Americans on diet: results from the 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of
Food Intakes by Individuals. (Research). Sahasporn Paeratakul; Emily
E. York-Crowe; Donald A. Williamson; Donna H. Ryan; George A. Bray.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12792621&dopt=Abstract
Luckily, the American Dietetic Association has many of its past
articles, including this one, available free on its web site.
http://www.adajournal.org
Here is a direct link to the September 2002 article:
http://www.adajournal.org/scripts/om.dll/search?action=searchft&srch_fields1=title&srch_value1=+Americans+on+diet&srch_check_exactphrase1=yes&srch_logicop1=and&srch_fields2=all&srch_value2=&srch_radio_jour=srch_jour&srch_jour=JADA&srch_radio_dates=srch_all_dates&srch_sort=rel&srch_month_from=01&srch_year_from=1993&srch_month_to=08&srch_year_to=2003&srch_show_abst=show_abst&srch_volume=&srch_page=&
d=jada&special=
Click on "full text" or "pdf" at the bottom of the page to view
article.
------------------------
Now, getting down to the demographics...
The study covered a "representative sample" of 10,144 U.S. adults.
What this means is that the results of the study are intended to apply
to the U.S. adult population as a whole. Thus, even though the study
itself doesn't estimate the total number of U.S. dieters by category,
we can estimate those totals by applying the survey results to
population date from the U.S. Census Bureau.
As of 2000, there were an estimated 205.8 million U.S. adults 18 or
older.
Source: Census.gov
http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/voting/proj00/tab01.txt
Thus, by applying the American Dietetic Association's representative
sample percentages to the total U.S. adult population of 205.8
million, we can estimate the number of dieters by age, gender, income
level, education. You didn't request ethnicity, but since that
information is also available, I will include that as well. Thus, the
data below is from the article above with the exception of the
estimated total for each category which was calculated by me by
applying the various percentages to the Census data cited.
---------------------------------
AGE
Age 18-39
Percent of total: 46.2
Percent dieting: 10.4
Estimated total dieters aged 18-39: 9.88 million
Age 40-59
Percent of total: 32.3
Percent dieting: 19.2
Estimated total dieters aged 40-59: 12.76 million
Age 60 or older
Percent of total: 21.5
Percent dieting: 25.7
Estimated total dieters aged 60 or older: 11.37 million
---------------------------------
GENDER
Men
Percent of total: 48.0
Percent dieting: 13.0
Estimated total men dieting: 12.84 million
Women
Percent of total: 48.0
Percent dieting: 13.0
Estimated total women dieting: 21.19 million
---------------------------------
RACE/ETHNICITY
White
Percent of total: 78.6
Percent dieting: 17.6
Estimated total white dieters: 28.47 million
African-American
Percent of total: 11.8
Percent dieting: 13.8
Estimated total African-American dieters: 3.35 million
Hispanic
Percent of total: 9.5
Percent dieting: 13.0
Estimated total Hispanic dieters: 2.54 million
---------------------------------
RACE-GENDER
White women
Percent of total: 40.7
Percent dieting: 21.1
Estimated total white female dieters: 17.67 million
White men
Percent of total: 38.0
Percent dieting: 13.8
Estimated total white male dieters: 10.79 million
African-American women
Percent of total: 6.6
Percent dieting: 14.0
Estimated total African-American female dieters: 1.9 million
African-American men
Percent of total: 5.2
Percent dieting: 13.5
Estimated total African-American male dieters: 1.44 million
Hispanic women
Percent of total: 4.7
Percent dieting: 18.0
Estimated total Hispanic female dieters: 1.74 million
Hispanic men
Percent of total: 4.8
Percent dieting: 8.1
Estimated total Hispanic male dieters: 0.8 million (i.e., 800,000)
---------------------------------
HOUSEHOLD INCOME
less than or equal to 130% of poverty
Percent of total: 16.2
Percent dieting: 15.2
Estimated total dieters at or below 130% of poverty: 5.07 million
More than 130% of poverty
Percent of total: 83.8
Percent dieting: 16.7
Estimated total dieters above 130% of poverty: 28.8 million
---------------------------------
EDUCATION
Less than High school
Percent of total: 16.0
Percent dieting: 16.3
Estimated total dieters with less than high school education: 5.37
million
High school or greater
Percent of total: 84
Percent dieting: 16.5
Estimated total dieters with high school education or greater: 28.5
million
---------------------------------
TOTAL:
"The prevalence of dieting in the total sample was 16.5%."
Estimated total U.S. dieters: 33.95 million
---------------------------------
source:
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Sept 2002 v102 i9
p1247(5)
Americans on diet: results from the 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of
Food Intakes by Individuals. (Research). Sahasporn Paeratakul; Emily
E. York-Crowe; Donald A. Williamson; Donna H. Ryan; George A. Bray
http://www.adajournal.org/scripts/om.dll/search?action=searchft&srch_fields1=title&srch_value1=+Americans+on+diet&srch_check_exactphrase1=yes&srch_logicop1=and&srch_fields2=all&srch_value2=&srch_radio_jour=srch_jour&srch_jour=JADA&srch_radio_dates=srch_all_dates&srch_sort=rel&srch_month_from=01&srch_year_from=1993&srch_month_to=08&srch_year_to=2003&srch_show_abst=show_abst&srch_volume=&srch_page=&
d=jada&special=
The study also breaks down the dieters by type of diet, reason for
dieting, and many of factors, etc., so if you're interested in that
information, it's in the article.
---------------------------------
As indicated, the September 2002 article from the American Dietetic
Association that I've cited has the demographic information that you
requested. Of course, there are also expensive market research
reports on this subject.
For example, a company called MarketData Enterprises sells a report
called "U.S. Weight Loss & Diet Control Market (7th Edition)" for
$1,995.
http://www.mkt-data-ent.com/studies.html
Their report supposedly contains "dieter demographics," as well.
Whether the data in that report is any better, more comprehensive or
less comprehensive than the Dietetic Association's data is not readily
apparent. However, if you're interested, you might get in touch with
that company via their information request form:
http://www.mkt-data-ent.com/email.html
------------
search strategy:
"dieters" on PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
dieter, demographics
I hope this helps. |
