A picture tells a thousand words: Impact of an educational nutrition booklet on nutrition label gazing
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A picture tells a thousand words: Impact of an educational nutrition booklet on nutrition label gazing Marieke C. Pennings & Tricia Striano & Susan Oliverio
# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Overweight and obesity are major health issues in many countries. Nutritional labels provide a means to making healthier food choices. Gazing longer at nutrition labels rather than the products' packaging may be a first step in making a healthy decision when purchasing or consuming a product. Using eye-tracker methodology, we examined the influence of an educational nutrition booklet on duration of gaze at nutrition labels. Thirty-two adults from New York City participated in a pretest–posttest study. Participants were randomly assigned to the nutrition education group (NE) or the control group for 10 min. The NE group reviewed a picture-based educational nutrition booklet. The control group worked on a word find puzzle. Participants' duration of gazing at nutrition labels was assessed. Results revealed a significant interaction of group and nutrition label gazing such that the NE group gazed significantly longer at the nutritional label in the posttest compared to the pretest. The NE group gazed significantly longer at nutrition labels during the posttest than the control group. There was no effect for the control group. The findings show that briefly reviewing an educational nutrition booklet increases duration of gaze at nutrition labels. Keywords Nutrition education . Nutrition fact labels . Eye tracker . Marketing
M. C. Pennings (*) : T. Striano Department of Psychology, Hunter College, New York, NY, USA e-mail: [email protected] T. Striano e-mail: [email protected] T. Striano : S. Oliverio Institute for Education on Health and Research, Milton, MA, USA S. Oliverio e-mail: [email protected] S. Oliverio Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Boston, MA, USA
Mark Lett
1 Introduction Nutrition labels are used in many countries around the world. However, many adults do not understand nutrition labels (Rothman et al. 2006; Levy and Fein 1998; McArthur et al. 2001). This is especially problematic due to the alarming rates of obesity and their associated health risks. It is also relevant for health-care providers, diet programs, and companies promoting healthier food choices. There are many reasons for misinterpretation of labels, such as misapplication of serving size, confusion due to irrelevant material, and incorrect calculations (Rothman et al. 2006). Complex math also makes it difficult for consumers to implement the information on nutrition labels into their daily diet (Levy and Fein 1998). Research shows that individuals who read nutrition labels have healthier diets (Kreuter et al. 1997). Thus, nutrition label education may benefit consumers by improving their dietary behavior. Product packages often contain nutrition-related claims, which greatly alter a consumer's perception of serving size and food intake (Wansink and Chandon 2006). Consumers who see products label
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