Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

People look at labels less than they think

|
|
 
  
Published: Oct. 25, 2011 at 7:05 PM

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Consumers think they look at food labels more than they actually do, University of Minnesota researchers suggest.

Study investigators Dan J. Graham and Robert W. Jeffrey said study findings suggest consumers have a finite attention span for Nutrition Facts labels, but although most consumers viewed labels, very few consumers viewed every component on any label.

In a simulated grocery shopping exercise, 203 participants observed 64 grocery products displayed on a computer monitor, the researchers said.

Each screen contained three elements, the current Nutrition Facts label, a picture and list of ingredients, and a description of the product with price and quantity information, the researchers said.

Participants were aware that their eye movements would be tracked, but unaware that the study focus was nutrition information, the researchers explained.

The study, to be published in the November Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found 33 percent of participants said they almost always look at calorie content on Nutrition Facts labels, 31 percent said they almost always look at the total fat content 20 percent said the same for trans-fat content, 24 percent for sugar content, and 26 percent for serving size.

However, only 9 percent actually looked at calorie count for almost all of the products in the study and about 1 percent of participants looked at each of these other components -- total fat, trans fat, sugar, and serving size -- on almost all labels, the study said.

© 2011 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Health News Stories
1 of 20
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visited in Washington
View Caption
Veterans etch the names of their friends inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War on May 26, 2012 in Washington, DC. More than 58,000 names of the servicemen who were killed or missing in the war are engraved on The Wall. UPI/Pat Benic
fark
This farmer thought he had only lost 99 cows, but then he rounded them up
Photoshop these soccer players
Tropical Storm Beryl enters Florida, immediately becomes depressed. Farkers fully understand why...
Andy Rooney's WWII scoop from Nov 7th, 1944: The day Nazi 'robot rockets' almost bombed New York...
Chances are, if you're growing a two foot tall marijuana plant in a pot outside your front door,...
Canadian hang-glider pilot says he's really sorry he dropped that poor tourist to her death, and...