Factors affecting the intention of nutrition label use among selected adults in the Philippines

Abstract

Abstract Background Having an unhealthy diet is a risk-factor in the development of non-communicable diseases. Through the provision of sufficient nutrition information, nutrition labeling is one of the recommendations to increase awareness and promote healthy diets. However, there is still limited research in the Philippines that can be utilized in improving nutrition label use. With the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as the study model, this study aimed to determine attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control on nutrition label, and if the three constructs are associated with the intention of nutrition label use among adults in selected communities. Methods This analytic cross-sectional study conducted face-to-face interview using a developed questionnaire, among 440 adults (18 to 59 years old) in the top four communities with highest population in Los Baňos, Laguna, selected through a two-stage sampling design. Data were encoded using MS Excel and analyzed using STATA. Results The prevalence of positive attitude was 89.32% (95% CI: 86.06 - 91.89) and 96.82% (95% CI: 94.69 - 98.11) had high degree of subjective norms. With regards to perceived behavioral control, 61.36% (95% CI: 56.71 - 65.82) found nutrition labels as easy to understand, and 94.09% (95% CI: 91.45 - 95.95) had high intention of using it. Then, using multiple logistic regression, only having a perceived behavioral control on nutrition label of being easy to understand (OR 3.33; 95% CI: 1.47-7.54) was found to be associated with having high intention of nutrition label use. Conclusions Information and education on nutrition labels should be strengthened to improve the perceived understanding of the participants which showed significant association with having high intention of nutrition label use. Nonetheless, promotions are important to maintain positive attitude and subjective norms toward nutrition label use. The study also generated data that can serve as reference for future studies. Key messages Among the three constructs of TPB, only having perceived behavioral control on nutrition label of being easy to understand was found to be associated with having high intention of nutrition label use. Improving the nutrition label understanding of the study participants is significant in having high intention of nutrition label use.