Which nutrition information do shoppers want on food labels?

Two surveys examined supermarket shoppers' views of food label nutrition information terms. Approximately four out of five of the respondents were women. The first study, conducted among 941 shoppers in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide showed that information about cholesterol, fats, additives and health claims was perceived to be most important among 15 items of food label information. Extensive differences between the perceptions of members of different demographic groups were observed. Principal components analysis of the ratings data derived three components which were named Positive Nutrition, Additives and Cholesterol, Calories and Claims. Women had significantly higher scores on all three components. The second study of 631 shoppers in Sydney examined their ratings of the usefulness of 25 food and nutrition terms. The results confirmed the findings from the first study; information about negative as well as positive food constituents was perceived to be most useful and important. The study showed: 1.Divergence between consumers' and experts' views of the usefulness of label information; consumers were less interested in energy content, dietary fibre and more interested in a variety of other constituents such as cholesterol and flavourings. 2.Differences in desired label information between groups of consumers according to their gender, educational background, and other demographic characteristics. 3.Principal components analysis of the ratings broadly confirmed the findings of the first study: attitudes toward food label information were distributed along five components named Positive Nutrients, Additives, Fats, Salt and Sugars, and, Unfamiliar Concepts. Several statistically significant but small demographic differences were found. The studies' findings suggest that there is a need for food product labels which more fully reflect consumers' perceptions of foods, especially information about "additives" and "negative nutrients. Negotiation is required between the different perspectives of consumer groups, regulators, nutrition educators and industry personnel about label design and content.