About a third of people are confused about what makes a healthy diet and are unsure of how to improve their eating habits, a new study has found. Three out of ten respondents to the Medibank-commissioned survey said they found information about what was healthy food confusing to some degree. And while 41 per cent agreed they should change their diet and knew what they needed to fix, 19 per cent said they wanted to change their diet but were unsure what to do. Associate Professor in Nutrition at Deakin University Tim Crowe said the wide variety of conflicting nutritional information available to people was the cause of the confusion. "Nutrition is one of the few fields you can be considered an expert just by talking about it," he said. "In nutrition you can be an expert just because you have lost weight and you have had an approach that works for you. That resonates with some people. But the information can be very dubious." He said the basic facts of nutrition had not changed in decades and that a diet high in fruit and vegetables and low in sugar and processed food was the "cornerstone of good health". "Dietary fads and trends come and go. Paleo is what we talk about at the moment but it won't be around in a few years," Dr Crowe said. The paleo diet of lean meat, nuts, fruits and vegetables is championed by celebrity chef Pete Evans, but has been criticised by health experts for the lack of research into its health claims. The Medibank Health Check quizzed a random sample of 1500 people on their views on topics including grocery prices, knowledge of healthy eating habits and meal routines. Medibank senior medical adviser Ian Boyd said the results showed price, nutritional value and mood were the leading drivers of food choices. "Although 76 per cent of people believe a healthy lifestyle is about making the right food choices, only half felt that their diet was due to factors within their control," he said. "Clearly, the myriad of influences on what people eat means the path to better health is more difficult than it could be." Almost half of respondents said they would buy nutritious food before they considered its price, but less than one third said they were prepared to pay more for organic or responsibly produced food. The report, which coincides with World Health Day, was produced by Medibank in association with the Dietitians Association of Australia, Deakin University and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation.

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