Does anyone actually read food labels?... and understand them?... and act upon them?

Ultra-processed
ยท
February 22, 2024

๐Ÿท๏ธ While food labeling generates much debate, to a large extent in conjunction with the debate on food categories (NOVA, Chilean front label, nutrient content approaches...), one may wonder whether labels are read and whether they are informative, especially amongst younger populations.

A recent study by researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston brings us much hope: albeit its limitations, all the more for the teenage age group at high risk for poor food choices:"๐˜ฟ๐™š๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™›๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™›๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™™๐™ฎ, ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ก๐™ช๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™›๐™ง๐™š๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ฎ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฃ๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ก๐™–๐™—๐™š๐™ก ๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™–๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™–๐™™๐™ค๐™ก๐™š๐™จ๐™˜๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™–๐™จ๐™จ๐™ค๐™˜๐™ž๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฃ๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ก๐™–๐™—๐™š๐™ก ๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™œ๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฃ๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ก๐™–๐™—๐™š๐™ก ๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™™๐™ค๐™š๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™š๐™™ ๐™—๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™›๐™ž๐™˜๐™ž๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™›๐™ก๐™ช๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™™๐™ž๐™š๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™๐™ค๐™ž๐™˜๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™–๐™œ๐™š ๐™œ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฅ".

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โ€โ€While making us optimistic, clearly more effort is required, both in terms of ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜€ (and improvement of labels themselves), and also ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€.

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No doubt areas where the GoCoCo App ๐Ÿ“ฑ can help jump through the hoops:

- encompassing both a holistic & reductionist rating system

- simple on-the-spot scanning system that will rate the product for you, so you don't need to spend 10 minutes trying to figure out what the label means (and what food claims are relevant)

- providing alternative options for poorly rated products, so you can quickly swap if relevant

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Let's help our teenagers (and adults !) choose wisely ๐Ÿ˜€

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๐Ÿ“‘ Access the full article ย here.

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๐Ÿ’ฌ Feel free to comment, agree, disagree, provide further details on these topics here.

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