Association between nutrition label reading status and the Healthy Diet Indicator-2015

ÖZTÜRK E. E., ÖZGEN L.

JOURNAL OF FOOD AND NUTRITION RESEARCH, vol.59, no.3, pp.263-270, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 59 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF FOOD AND NUTRITION RESEARCH
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, CAB Abstracts, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database
  • Page Numbers: pp.263-270
  • Keywords: nutrition label, Healthy Diet Indicator-2015, label reading, diet quality, FOOD, KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, QUALITY, CONSUMERS, USAGE
  • Hacettepe University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Nutrition labelling is a population-based approach for facilitating health-compatible nutrition choices through the provision of food nutrient content information to consumers. The Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI-2015), which is based on adherence to World Health Organization's (WHO) nutrition guideline is used as a priori measure of diet quality. This study aimed to examine the association between nutrition label reading and HDI-2015 in young adults. In this study, 106 adults aged 19-44 years were recruited. HDI-2015 and three-day food records were used to determine diet quality indices. In this study, 61.3 % of the participants read nutrition labels, and nutrition label readers had a greater fruits and vegetables as well as fibre and potassium intake. In addition, nutrition label readers had a higher HDI-2015 mean score than non-readers, and 56.9 % of nutrition label readers had moderate adherence to HDI-2015, while 58.5 % of non-readers had low adherence. The study results demonstrated the relationship between reading nutrition labels and dietary quality, and that nutrition label readers tended to eat healthier than non-readers. Therefore, nutrition labels are an invaluable motivational tool to achieve behavioural changes that can lead to improved health outcomes in combatting obesity and other non-chronic nutritional diseases.