The University of Santiago de Compostela has participated, together with the universities of Tennessee, Arkansas (USA) and the Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute, in a study on the relationship between reading the nutritional labeling of foods and obesity . The results indicate thatthe body mass index of individuals who read the labels can be 1.49 points lower than that of those who never take this information into account when making the purchase. This represents a reduction of 3.91 kg for a person weighing 74 kg. The data were taken from the annual National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), collected by the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study is published in the journalAgricultural Economics.
By sex,58% of menregularly or always reads the information presented in thenutritional labels, while this percentageincreases to 74% in women. And the associated impact is also greater in women than in men. On average, women who read the nutritional information have a body mass index 1.48 points lower, while this difference is only 0.12 points in men.
Thepopulation living in the city is the one that takes into account nutritional labeling the most, as well as people with high school education and those with a university education. As tothe smoking population examines this information much less, according to scientists because their lifestyle contains certain unhealthy habits and, as a consequence, “they may not care as much about the nutritional content of what they eat.”
? Obesity is one of the most important health problems in the United States today ,? says researcher María Loureiro in statements to the SINC agency. The number of overweight or obese adults has increased over the years: in 2009-2010, more than a third (nearly 37%) of the adult population in this country was obese. “We know that the information on the labels will be used as a prevention mechanism towards obesity.”, Concludes Loureiro, who suggests that campaigns or public policies could be designed to promote the use of nutritional labeling also on restaurant menus and other public establishments. , so that the population that regularly eats away from home benefits.
