Use and Understanding of Nutrition Labels: Impact of Diet Attachment.

Abstract

Food labels may have an important function in communicating nutrition information and have considerable potential to influence food choice and dietary behavior. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate Spanish consumers’ reasons for reading or not reading nutrition information, their nutrition knowledge, perception and understanding of nutrition label information, and the possible impact of following a diet on all these. A 74-item questionnaire was developed to assess nutrition knowledge, attitude toward food labels, reasons for never reading nutrition information, food choice, the perceived importance of nutrition facts, and label-reading behavior. The results indicated that dietary patterns, nutrition knowledge, and sociodemographic characteristics strongly influenced label use. Based on the participants’ beliefs, four segments were identified for those who followed a diet and three segments for those who did not. Our study suggests that following a diet increases Spanish consumers’ nutrition knowledge as well as their use of nutrition labels, although this cause-effect relationship could be reversed. Nonetheless, further studies would be necessary to clarify the causal direction.