Applied nutritional investigationCan nutrition label recognition or usage affect nutrition intake according to age?

- Nutrition labeling is a simple way to help people improve their nutrition intake by making healthier food choices. For older individuals, however, nutrition labeling did not affect nutrition intake.
- Regarding to protein and fat intake, the results revealed inappropriate usage of nutrition labeling among all age groups.
- Because older individuals are becoming a major target market in the food industry, more studies on nutrition labeling usage should be conducted, keeping this age group in mind. Therefore, more systematic education on the topic of nutrition labels is required in order for consumers, especially for the elderly, to make more informed and healthier food decisions.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the use of nutrition labeling on nutritional intake according to age groups, focusing on Korean elderly.MethodsStudy participants (N = 5223) were adults at least 20 y of age and had participated in the Korean National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey in 2012. Data for recognition/use of nutrition labels were obtained by self-report. Nutrition intake also was estimated by 24-h dietary recall. Participants were categorized into three age groups: 20 to 39 y, 40 to 59 y, and ≥60 y. Generalized linear model was conducted to test mean differences between nutrition label recognition (NLR) and nutrition label use (NLU) groups for nutrient intake, according to the age groups.ResultsResults from this study indicated that younger individuals (age groups of 20-39 and 40-59 y) in the NLU group showed a significant association with nutrient intake compared to those in the NLR group. Additionally, nutrition intake status in the NLU group improved positively. Whereas older participants (≥60 y) in the NLR group showed a significant association with most nutrient intake compared with the NLU group. The study also found that protein intake was reduced in the NLU group compared with the non-NLU group across the age groups, except for older participants (age group 20-39 y: 79.16 versus 86.30 g, P = 0.050; age group 40-59 y: 69.97 versus 75.58 g, P = 0.040; age group of ≥60 y: 64.72 versus 64.89 g, P = 0.967).ConclusionsThe present study revealed that nutrition labeling cannot be effective for the elderly, and there were several areas of misunderstanding. Therefore, more systematic education on the topic of nutrition labeling is required to help the elderly make healthier food decisions.