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TUESDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Many people don't have the reading and math skills to correctly interpret the nutrition labels on food packages, a new study finds.
People need to be better educated about how to read food labels, but labels also need to be redesigned to deliver the information in a way that is easier to understand, the researchers said.
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The report was published in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
"Even though most people told us that they read food labels on a regular basis, people have a hard time understanding food labels," said study author Dr. Russell L. Rothman, an assistant professor at the Center for Health Services Research at Vanderbilt University. "Food labels are pretty complex pieces of information, particularly the nutrition panel on the side of the food label."
In the study, researchers surveyed 200 primary-care patients. The participants, who came from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, were given standardized reading and math tests. They were also given a nutrition label survey, which asked them to interpret food labels. It also measured their comprehension of food nutrition labels.
Participants were asked to choose which of two foods had more or less of a certain nutrient. Half of the questions used products clearly labeled as "reduced carb," "low carb," or designed for "a low-carb diet."
Among the participants, 68 percent had some college education, and 77 percent had at least ninth-grade level literacy skills. However, 63 percent had less than ninth-grade math skills. Most participants said they used food labels and found them easy to understand, the researchers report.
"However, we found that a lot of people have a hard time understanding the label and make mistakes when trying to interpret the label," Rothman said. "This can lead to people grossly overestimating or underestimating how much they are taking in of certain nutrients."
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