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Why even bother with nutrition labeling?

October 20th, 2005

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

By PATRICIA MACK
RECORD COLUMNIST

We provide nutrition information for our readers whenever it is available in the belief that it is helpful in making wise decisions about what to eat and drink.

But after perusing some recent research findings, I’m thinking that people don’t care.

Fewer than half of shoppers surveyed by ACNielsen said that they only check for fat and calories when they read nutrition information on packages of food. I think it’s fair to assume that the same attitude holds true on the recipes they prepare.

Fewer than one in 10 check information about gluten or the glycemic index, and just 35 percent of consumers have even heard of the glycemic index, which measures how a food item will affect a person’s blood sugar.

I thought, given the late great craze over low-carb diets, that Americans would be savvy about this particular issue.

But I was even more surprised to learn that fewer than six in 10 - 58 percent - know the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat.

I can’t for the life of me explain how this lack of knowledge jibes with the plethora of health-focused food and beverage products on supermarket shelves.

There’s no accounting for their presence, considering the findings of another research company, Information Resources Inc. In its studies, a third of consumers’ “food and beverage packaged goods dollars” are spent on products bought for pure enjoyment rather than nutritional value. Nearly half - 43 percent - of consumers say they rarely or never give up taste for health benefits.

Sales in eight of 10 categories of “pure enjoyment” products increased in the past year. The wine and spirits categories showed the largest gains (8.1 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively).

Not only do consumers compromise nutrition for taste, but they also give up nutrition for convenience, according to Harris Interactive, which conducted a study for the Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories.

Nine in 10 adults eat meals and snacks “on the go” - 60 percent daily. People who are most likely to do so include young adults (76 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds versus 47 percent of those age 55 or older), singles (73 percent versus 56 percent of those who are married), and people with children (66 percent versus 57 percent of those without). More than a quarter of us eat on the go two or three times a day.

Reasons are familiar: convenience (43 percent), too busy at work (26 percent), too busy running errands (22 percent) and too busy with children and household chores (22 percent).

Nearly everyone - 96 percent - says they fall off the “health and wellness wagon” in ways large and small.

People who try to eat a healthful diet say that they are often sidetracked by their busy lifestyles and just don’t have time to prepare or shop for good food.

The statistics on where Americans consume “on-the-go” meals are also distressing. For at least 60 percent of us, that place is in front of a television set. Other places are in the car (42 percent), at work (40 percent) and between household chores (27 percent).

Researchers put together a list of what consumers really want to know about food:

# Price - 93 percent

# Expiration date - 69 percent

# Calories/fat content - 53 percent

# Food preparation information - 41 percent

# Food safety information - 27 percent

# Origin (local or not) - 19 percent

So I ask, are we wasting paper printing nutrition information?

Taken From: http://www.northjersey.com/

Food Editor Patricia Mack can be reached at The Record, 150 River St., Hackensack, NJ 07601; by voice mail, (201) 646-4351; by fax (201) 457-2511; or by e-mail, mack@northjersey.com.

Entry Filed under: Nutrition News

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