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Population attitudes and practices regarding the 'traffic light'-style labeling in Ecuador

Abstract:

Introduction: Choosing food is critical to the health of populations. Strategies such as labeling rules in products could help consumers to have clear information on the food they eat. Objectives: To explore the association of sex and age with the attitudes and practices with regard to the 'traffic light'-style nutritional labeling in Ecuador Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in a convenience sample of 622 subjects of both sexes in 6 supermarkets in the urban area of Riobamba from September 2014 to February 2015. Differences of proportions and logistic regression hypotheses were tested to determine the association of attitudes and practices with sex and age. Results: Men with respect to women (OR=1.58; 95%CI:1.13-2.21; p < 0.001) and participants aged 18-40 years with respect to those aged > 40 years (OR=1.72; 95%CI:1.22-2.44; p=0.002) are more likely to believe that there is currently too much pressure to eat healthily. Likewise, men are less likely to believe that they consume too much fat (OR=0.61; 95%CI:0.43-0.85; p=0.01) compared to women. Participants aged between 18-40 years are more likely to try to minimize the amount of sugar (OR=2.41; 95%CI:1.55-3.76; p < 0.001), sal (OR=2.24; 95%CI:1.50-3.60; p < 0.001) and fat consuming (OR=2.17; 95%CI:1.44-3.27; p < 0.001) vs. 40 years. Conclusions: The attitudes and practices of the population regarding the 'traffic light'-style nutritional labeling can vary with respect to age and sex.