Abstract
The present research investigates procedures for educating people on the use of nutritional labeling. The methods incorporate instructional audio-video media in conjunction with active decision making and immediate feedback. Three groups of participants (audio-video only, audio-video plus active decision making/feedback, and no-instruction control) were asked to chose the more nutritious products from pairs of similar products based on the information on the labels. The results showed that audio-video media improved the accuracy of the product-pair selections and nutrition knowledge. No additional benefit of active decision making and feedback was found. A follow-up product choice test given approximately one week later showed that performance for the two audio-video conditions was maintained, but there were no differences between conditions primarily because of a nonsignificant increase by the control group. However, the follow-up testing showed that the two audio-video groups had greater nutrition knowledge than the control group. Additional analyses showed that demographic variables such as gender, occupation, income level, health status, and special diet were related to product-choice and nutrition test performance. This research advances empirical work in this area, first, by showing an effective and efficient way to educate the public on nutrition and food label information, and second, by employing a performance measure (consumer choice) that might be useful in future research examining differences between food label formats and education strategies.
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