Influence of gender, nutrition education and nutrition labelling format on nutrition quality assessment

Abstract

This paper explores the influence of gender, nutrition education and nutrition labelling format on nutrition quality assessment and nutrition label format preference. Many studies have shown that it is mostly women who purchase food for households, indicating that research related to nutrition assessment may be female biased. In order to avoid this bias, female (n=15) and male (n=15) participants who are responsible or co-responsible for purchasing food in their households were selected from the general population in Croatia to participate in face-to-face multiple survey tasks. The results showed a significant influence of gender, education and nutrition labelling format on nutrition quality assessment. Men needed significantly less time for nutrition quality assessment than women. After nutrition education, survey participants needed significantly less time for assessment than before education. A visually re-designed current European back-of-pack nutrition label format proved the most effective format for research participants' nutrition quality assessment, but at the same time, participants found it difficult to understand. This study was limited to a small sample of participants but the results can later be used in testing a more representative sample. The study shed new light on consumer attitudes regarding current European nutrition label format, stressing the differences between men and women in nutrition quality assessment. The study also underlines the importance of effective nutrition education which should incorporate socio-demographic and cultural dimensions.