Nutrition Facts You Can't Miss: The Evolution of Front-of-Pack Labeling Providing Consumers With Tools to Help Select Foods and Beverages to Encourage More Healthful Diets

摘要

In this day and age, American consumers are more interested in health and nutrition than ever before, and with our technologically advanced world, nutrition information from a wide variety of sources is increasingly available. According to the 2009 International Food Information Council Foundation Food & Health Survey, 67% of consumers agree that reading or hearing about the relationship between food and health is of interest, but 42% also agree that food and health information is confusing and conflicting.As a result, for many health and nutrition experts, the process of developing science-based dietary recommendations that are clear to consumers is top of mind. Experts increasingly recognize that having good tools to help consumers apply dietary guidance is as important as the recommendations themselves. The US government is currently updating nutrition recommendations through the development of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It is also looking at how to most effectively use consumer tools, including the Nutrition Facts panel (NFP), to present recommendations to the public and is interested in the role that nutrition symbols play in consumers' dietary choices.Consumers report using many aspects of information on food packages when making purchase decisions, including the NFP, and they are most likely to report consulting it when purchasing a product for the first time. However, ethnographic research shows that consumers do not actually use the NFP as frequently as they report doing so but are more likely to use it when, among other factors, nutrition information is present on the front of the package. Still, understanding and applying nutrition information, particularly to evaluate the nutrient content ofindividual foods and beverages in the context of a daily diet,seem to be lacking.