Label reading, numeracy and food & nutrition involvement. (1st September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mulders, Maria D.G.H.; Corneille, O.; Klein, O.
• Is Part Of: Appetite. Volume 128(2018)
• Page Start: 214
• Page End: 222
• Publication Date: 2018-09-01
• Subjects: Nutrition information -- Nutrition labeling -- Numeracy -- Nutrition involvement -- Food involvement; Food habits -- Periodicals; Appetite -- Periodicals; Appetite disorders -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 306.4613
• DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.06.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0195-6663

Abstract

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate objective performance on a nutrition label comprehension task, and the influence of numeracy and food-related involvement on this performance level. A pilot study (n = 45) was run to prepare the scales in French. For the main study (n = 101), participants provided demographic information and answered the nutrition label survey, the short numeracy scale and two different food-related involvement scales (i.e. the food involvement scale and the nutrition involvement scale). Both studies were conducted online, and consent was obtained from all participants. Participants answered correctly only two-thirds of the nutrition label task items. Numeracy and food involvement scores were positively correlated with performance on this task. Finally, food involvement interacted with numeracy. Specifically, people scoring low in numeracy performed generally more poorly on the task, but if they had high food involvement scores, their performance increased. This suggests that high food-related motivation may compensate for poor numeracy skills when dealing with nutrition labels.