In the globalised world of the 21st century, issues of food and nutrition labelling are of pre-eminent importance. Several international bodies, including the World Health Organisation and World Trade Organisation, are encouraging countries to harmonise their food and nutrition regulations with international standards, guidelines and recommendations such as those for Codex Alimentarius. Through...

Self-reported dietary intake is assessed by methods of real-time recording (food diaries and the duplicate portion method) and methods of recall (dietary histories, food frequency questionnaires, and 24-hour dietary recalls). Being less labor intensive, recall methods are more frequently employed in nutritional epidemiological investigations. However, sources of error, which include the partici...

Recent studies report that using green labels to denote healthier foods, and red to denote less healthy foods increases consumption of green- and decreases consumption of red-labelled foods. Other symbols (e.g. emoticons conveying normative approval and disapproval) could also be used to signal the healthiness and/or acceptability of consuming such products. The present study tested the combine...

BACKGROUND Front of pack food labels or signpost labels are currently widely discussed as means to help consumers to make informed food choices. It is hoped that more informed food choices will result in an overall healthier diet. There is only limited evidence, as to which format of a food label is best understood by consumers, helps them best to differentiate between more or less healthy food...

Australians are eating far more salt than is good for health. In May 2007, the Australian Division of World Action on Salt and Health (AWASH) launched a campaign to reduce population salt intake. A consumer survey was commissioned to quantify baseline aspects of awareness and behaviour related to salt and health amongst Australians. A total of 1084 individuals aged 14 years or over were surveye...

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between health literacy and nutrition behaviors using a low-income sample. Face-to-face surveys at 11 social services offices generated a convenience sample of 154 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-eligible adults. We assessed health literacy, fruit and vegetable intake, food label use, consumption of healthy foods, and de...

Objective. To evaluate parental attitudes toward providing foods and beverages with nonnutritive sweeteners (NNS) to their children and to explore parental ability to recognize NNS in packaged foods and beverages. Methods. 120 parents of children ≥ 1 and ≤18 years of age completed brief questionnaires upon entering or exiting a grocery store. Parental attitudes toward NNS were assessed using an...

We evaluated a 6-week community-based cooking programme, "Eat Better Feel Better", aimed at tackling barriers to cooking and healthy eating using a single-group repeated measures design. 117 participants enrolled, 62 completed baseline and post-intervention questionnaires, and 17 completed these and a 3-4 months follow-up questionnaire. Most participants were female, >45 years, and socioeconomi...

OBJECTIVE To examine the validity and reproducibility of food groups in the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) developed for the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS). METHODS To evaluate the reproducibility of food groups included in the FFQ, 132 subjects (61 men and 71 women) aged 20 years or older twice completed a 168-item FFQ (FFQ1, FFQ2), with a 14-month interval betwe...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the influence of label design on children's perception of 2 popular snack foods across 3 income levels. DESIGN Labels of 2 snack products (yogurt and sponge cake) were designed using a fractional factorial design with 3 2-level variables: cartoon character, nutrition claims, and front-of-package nutritional information. PARTICIPANTS A total of 221 children (aged 9-13 y...