Use of Nutrition Labeling according to Gender and the Obesity Degree of High School Students in Chungnam

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to compare nutrition labeling use according to the gender and obesity degree of adolescents to help choose the healthy foods and improve dietary habits. This study surveyed the perception and use of nutrition labeling among 392 male and female high school students in Chungnam. It was found that 34.7% of the subjects read the nutrition labels, mostly for health reason. Calorie content was read the most among all components of nutrition labels regardless of gender or body mass index (BMI) status, especially among female students. Perception of nutrition labeling was 3.3 out of 5 points for all students, and there was no significant difference in scores between male and female students. However, there was a significant difference between the overweight group (3.4 points), normal group (3.3 points), and underweight group (3.1 points) (P＜0.05). The frequency of reading nutrition labels by food group was highest for ramen, and lowest for fruits. Female students had significantly higher scores on the use of nutrition labeling for 8 food groups out of 12 groups compared to male students (P＜0.05). In addition, the overweight and above group had significantly higher scores on the use of nutrition labeling for snack food and fruits compared to other groups (P＜0.05). The proportion of students who received nutrition labeling education was 29.8%, and about half of students answered that such education and advertisement were necessary. These results suggest that nutritional education is needed to promote the use of nutrition labeling in adolescents.