Recent surveys indicate that eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly are priorities for most people in the United States, like those of most other countries.
Meaning :
Recent surveys indicate that
eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly are priorities for most people in the United States, like those of most other countries.
Evaluate Given Sentence:
X & Y are priorities for most people in US, Like those
( most people) of most other countries.
Sentence presents a comparison between, People & Gerunds. Hence The sentence appears to be illogical.
& As underlined above, "Most people" is the antecedent of Pronoun "those" in the underlined part in the given sentence.
POE :
(A) like those of most other countries
wrong for above mentioned reasons.
(B) as those of most other countries
As + Noun = Role/Function = As People, Exercising & Eating are priorities; illogical
(C) just as most people of other countries do
Comparing Action nouns with Most people in most countries; Illogical
(D) as do most people of other countries
Similar to the above option C
(E) as they are for most people in other countries
Here we go.
As They ( Exercising & Eating ) are for most people in other countries, Exercising & Eating are priorities for people in US
Correct.