"gallup" news and stories

A recent WebMD article highlights some of the alcohol-related results of a new Gallup Poll, and it looks like beer is back on top as America's alcoholic beverage of choice. In the sampling of 1,007 Americans, 41 percent ranked beer as their top pick and 33 percent chose wine. It's also interesting to note that the sample group is based on Americans that are 18 years of age or older. While the number of Americans who say they drink hasn't really increased much since the '40s, according to Gallup, the amount those Americans drink has risen. The most recent figures show Americans drinking 4.5 drinks per week, compared to the average 2.8 drinks per week people reported having in 1996. Perhaps people are becoming more wine and beer savvy, or perhaps, as WebMD suggests, the increase is related to all the good press wine has received for its health benefits.

[Via Fark]

A recent Pew Research Center survey of over 2,000 adult Americans found that only 39 percent enjoy eating "a great deal." (That is, they enjoy the act of eating, not eating a lot.) This is 9 percent drop from the results of a 1989 Gallup survey. Many of the people polled in the more recent survey attributed their lack of enjoyment to concerns about their weight. Interestingly enough, the overall figures for enjoyment of cooking have stayed the same. Roughly one third of those surveyed said they enjoyed cooking "a great deal." The number of men that enjoy cooking has increased, however, from 25 percent in 1989 to 32 percent today. The Pew site has plenty of other interesting figures concerning eating patterns, junk food consumption and overeating. A Washington Post story on the survey results is available here.

[Image: Pew Research Center]