Improving food purchasing choices through increased understanding of food labels, using itemized till receipts to measure these changes

Abstract

Discussion: This study demonstrated that routine nutritional screening, as recommended by NICE (2006), is vital in medical oncology outpatients. It highlighted the need for dedicated dietetic time in the oncology outpatient setting to provide nutritional assessment and dietetic intervention as appropriate. This is additionally pertinent in light of the highlighted incidence of symptoms, many of which can further impact on nutritional status, which if left to further decline, is likely to impact of treatment tolerance and outcome. Conclusion: Medical oncology outpatients are at risk of malnutrition and dietetic involvement is essential to prevent the development of further nutrition related problems during treatment. A further study is planned using this study design in clinical oncology outpatients in order to ascertain the similarities and differences in malnutrition risk and symptom prevalence in those patients undergoing radiotherapy.Background: Rising obesity and the associated risks of diabetes and heart disease require changes in diet to bring about healthier eating. To achieve this, people need to understand nutrition and daily requirements but are frequently confused by nutrition information on food labels. The introduction of the Food Standards Agency's ÔTraffic LightÕ and the alternative ÔGuideline Daily AmountÕ systems may help or further confuse the public. A previous study showed that although 63% of study participants read labels, only 25% claimed to understand them, also knowledge of nutrient requirements and functions was low (Rigby, 2004). Ransley et al., (2001) have shown that till receipts can be used to estimate fat and energy intake. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether an intervention designed to improve understanding of nutrition and labels could improve food purchases and whether these changes could be measured from till receipts. Method: Participants were recruited from the general public (80 female; 23 males) (age <30 years (23), 31-45 years (25), 46-60 years (30), >60 years (22). Subjects were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 78) who were provided with an information booklet and credit card sized nutrition and labelling information to use when shopping, or the control group (n = 25), who received the information after four weeks of normal shopping. The intervention group provided an initial till receipt pre intervention and was then given the nutrition and labelling material. Further till receipts were returned from successive shopping trips over the following 4 weeks. The nine categories of food used for comparison were: fruit and vegetables, saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, white cereals, wholegrain cereals, processed foods, full fat and reduced fat items. Ethics approval was obtained from NWW Wales NHS Trust ethics committee. Results: Each of the nine food categories on till receipts were calculated as a percentage of the total shopping, excluding non-food items. General linear model repeated measures analyses show...

Let’s talk about health: shoppers’ discourse regarding health while food shopping

“…As gatekeeper of the food supply (41) and an important contributor to neighbourhood nutrition (42) , supermarkets are ideally placed to influence health (43) . To date, consumer food behaviour in the supermarket has mainly been examined through the use of shopping lists (44) and supermarket till receipts (37,45,46) as an index of food consumption or as an estimate of nutrient intake. However, till receipt studies, for example, focus only on actual purchases and are unable to give any insight into the motives for, or justifications of, food choice behaviours.…”

The acceptability to stakeholders of mandatory nutritional labelling in France and the UK – findings from the PorGrow project

“…In parallel, a consortium of food companies have proceeded with a different labelling scheme based on Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs). Unfortunately, this has led to inconsistent practices in the UK because companies have adopted either the GDA scheme or the traffic light scheme, or a composite of both, which could confuse shoppers Rigby & Tommis, 2008). In France, the national nutrition strategy (Hercberg, 2006) articulates the need to make labelling more understandable for consumers, suggesting providing French consumers with positive information on 'healthy' foods with a logo using the colours of the French flag, accompanied by the words 'plaisirnutrition'.…”