Nutrition Labels: Attention to, Understanding and Use in Food Choice by People Referring to Health Houses in Tehran, Iran

Nutrition labels can be used as a guide for choosing healthier foods and adopting a better diet. The aim of this study was to determine users’ attention to, understanding, and, use of nutrition labels and their relationship with sociodemographic characteristics and anthropometric status.

This cross-sectional study was conducted from spring to summer 2017. Using random cluster sampling, a total of 384 adults were selected from among the people referring to health houses in Tehran. Data were collected using a researcher-designed questionnaire completed by interviewing the subjects and analyzed through stepwise multiple regression analysis.

Women were more prone to pay attention to nutrition labels (P=0.05). People with academic education understood nutrition labels (about 7 times) more than other people (P=0.02). Furthermore, the participants’ understanding of nutrition labels decreased with aging (P< 0.001). People with a higher economic level and a recent history of going on a specific diet used nutrition labels more than other people (P<0.001). In addition, people with a history of diabetes mellitus were more likely to pay attention to nutrition labels (P=0.03) and use in food choice (almost 8 times more than healthy subjects) (P=0.04).

Attention to, understanding and use of nutrition labels by the subjects were strongly associated with age, economic status, educational level and recent history of going on a particular diet. Individuals with a normal body weight paid more attention to, and were willing to use the information contained in, food labels.