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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, PhD, RD, FADA, Extension Specialists, Rutgers University, 88 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-932-5000 x607, bredbenner@aesop.rutgers.edu
Since the mid-1990s, Nutrition Facts labels have appeared on virtually every food sold in the U.S. and, thus, are the most common nutrition information source. However, scant research has examined the usefulness of these labels or claims permitted on food packages. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate young adults' ability to locate and manipulate data reported on labels and judge the nutrient content and health claim accuracy. The sample (n=245) was comprised of 49 males with a mean age of 21.9+3.2SD and 196 females with a mean age of 21.1+3.1SD. About 15% reported that they always read nutrition labels, 76% read labels sometimes, and the remainder (9%) rarely read labels. Both women and men reported that labels had an important impact on their food purchasing decisions. A pencil/paper questionnaire revealed that both genders could locate and retrieve label information equally well, with a 90% or greater mean accuracy rate. They also manipulated quantitative information on the label to make diet planning decisions equally, with an 81% mean accurate rate. Males achieved a significantly (p=0.01) higher mean accuracy rate (88%) when asked to judge the truthfulness of nutrient content claims products than females (83% mean accuracy) did. Males also were significantly (p=0.009) better able to accurately judge whether a health claim would be permitted on a product less (77% of the time) than females (68% of the time). This investigation provides useful information for designing gender specific nutrition education programs designed to overcome barriers to nutrition label use.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Nutrition, Health Education
Related Web page: N/A
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: N/A
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.