Use of food labels and beliefs about diet-disease relationships among university students.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to measure the reported use of nutrition information on food labels by a population of university students and to determine if label users differed from non-users in terms of gender and specific beliefs related to label information and diet-disease relationships, specifically fat and heart disease and fibre and cancer.
DESIGN: A single-stage cluster sampling technique was used. Data was obtained using a self-administered, validated questionnaire.
SETTING: The present investigation took place at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada in the autumn of 1997.
SUBJECTS: : A total of 553 students in randomly selected classes in the College of Arts and Science took part in the survey (92% response rate). The sample consisted of roughly equal numbers of males and females, most between the ages of 18 and 24.
RESULTS: There were approximately equal numbers of label users and non-users among males, while label users outnumbered non-users by almost four to one among females. The importance of nutrition information on food labels was the only belief that differed significantly between label users and non-users for both sexes. For females, no other beliefs distinguished label users from non-users. However, for males, significant differences were found between label users and non-users on the beliefs that nutrition information is truthful and that a relationship between fibre and cancer exists.
CONCLUSIONS: Females appear to use food labels more often than do males. The only consistently observed difference between label users and non-users (male and female) was that users believed in the importance of nutrition information on food labels while non-users did not.