Nutrition Labels - do you find them useful?

jaybird90
jaybird90 Posts: 18
in Food and Nutrition
I am conducting research for my dissertation covering consumer use & opinions of nutrition labels on food products, and health & nutrition claims placed on the packaging.

I would be so grateful to anyone who could fill this in - there is also a prize draw of £20 worth of Amazon e-vouchers to be won :-)

Preferably only people from within the UK should answer as products & nutrition labels may differ - but general opinions are also very helpful so if you live outside the UK but would like to answer the survey then feel free to do so.

Link to survey:

http://edu.surveygizmo.com/s3/1162995/Consumer-Behaviour-br-Nutrition-Labels-and-Nutrition-amp-Health-Claims-on-Food-Products

Thank you!!

Replies

  • patentguru
    patentguru Posts: 312 Member
    Yes- the more information the better.

    I suggest banning "made from" on the label because it is very misleading. If you alter the compound-it is no longer the compound. For example, "made from" sugar is not sugar. One can say hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are "made from" Salt (NaCl) and Water (H2O).
  • THExNEKOxCHAN
    THExNEKOxCHAN Posts: 134 Member
    If it's got a label, I try to avoid it.
  • Athena53
    Athena53 Posts: 717 Member
    I'm not based in the UK but wanted to add my opinion. I find them very useful. Sometimes it will discourage me from buying something, which is probably not what the manufacturer would want! Turn-offs: huge ingredient lists of things I can't pronounce, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweetener in "low-sugar" or "less-sugar" products. I also ignore the per-serving levels and instead calculate the calories or whatever I'm looking at in the whole package and then figure out what % of the package I'm likely to eat. The listing per 100 grams in the UK is very useful for comparing various items. Here in the US we get bags of pretzels that are 1.5 servings. Yeah, right. You know you're probably going to eat the whole bag.

    Manufacturers are required to note whether or not a food was made in a facility that processed nuts, eggs, etc. and so many labels now say that it "may have been processed" in such a place. Not very useful if you're allergic to one of those substances. They protect their rear ends, but you can't buy it because you don't know for sure.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    I've completed your survey.

    I don't think the GDA or traffic light systetms on the fronts of packages are much use. They do not provide the information I require - the things I look for most often is the protein content and whether it is suitable for vegetarians.

    I don't like the traffic light system as it puts across that anything with a red section is unhealthy but this would include higher fat natural foods such as avocado, nuts, oils, etc which can all be part of a very healthy diet. Same goes for fruit where a lot of it would get a red mark for high sugar content. I prefer to look at the whole nutrient profile of food rather than just chosing something because it is 'low fat' or 'low sugar' etc.

    I would not make food choices based on these front of packet information schemes and will always look at the full nutritional data and ingredients list. I would certainly never pay attention to 'health claims' and indeed these tend to put me off a product rather than make me want to buy it.
  • jaybird90
    jaybird90 Posts: 18
    Thank you everyone for your input - it's very much appreciated and is very interesting to see the differing opinions!

    KarenJanine you seem to have the same view point as I do, it shouldn't be about 'low this, low that, etc.' but about the entire product itself. Trouble is the demand for low-fat product has led to all of these being created and I don't know about you but I'm a bit bombarded with it at supermarkets!!

    Thanks again for your input.
  • Athena53
    Athena53 Posts: 717 Member
    I'm always suspicious of low-fat. low-sugar. Typically they do other things to offset the loss in taste and texture from what they've cut back. Low-fat yogurt and ice cream can be higher in sugar, for example. Or they add substitute sweeteners to low-sugar and less-sugar products. Just give me the unadulterated product and I'll add sugar if I want to!

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