Document Detail


Patients' understanding and use of snack food package nutrition labels.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  15355944     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
PURPOSE: Little information exists on how patients in medical practice use food package nutrition labels. We theorized that patients in a general medical practice might not make the distinction between serving size and total package nutrition information, and this might lead to obesity. METHODS: Ninety patients between ages of 18 and 65 attending the St. Francis/University of Tennessee Family Practice Center were interviewed to determine whether they could calculate the total calories in sample snack food packages that contained more than one serving. RESULTS: Ninety percent of our patient sample correctly identified the number of calories per individual serving, but only 37% were able to recognize that the sample packages contained multiple servings. Confusion between calories per serving size and total calories per package was correlated with lower educational levels (P =.011) and with the presence of cardiovascular heart disease in our patient sample. CONCLUSIONS: Our patients tended to think of a multiple serving package as one serving. They underestimated and under-reported caloric intake from snack food sources. We conclude that snack food labels as actually used by patients do not lead to informed dietary choices. These findings could impact our understanding and management of the obesity epidemic in the United States.
Authors:
Allen L Pelletier; Wayne W Chang; John E Delzell; John W McCall
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice / American Board of Family Practice     Volume:  17     ISSN:  0893-8652     ISO Abbreviation:  J Am Board Fam Pract     Publication Date:    2004 Sep-Oct
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2004-09-09     Completed Date:  2004-12-22     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8807505     Medline TA:  J Am Board Fam Pract     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  319-23     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
St. Francis Family Practice Residency Program, University of Tennessee School of Medicine, Memphis 38119, USA. apelletier@utmem.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Cognition*
Energy Intake
Female
Food Labeling*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Obesity / prevention & control
Primary Health Care
Questionnaires

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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