Awareness, Comprehension, and Use of Newly-Mandated Nutrition Labels Among Mestiza and Indigenous Ecuadorian Women in the Central Andes Region of Ecuador

作者：Orozco Fadya; Ochoa Diana; Muquinche Maria; Padro Manuel; Melby Christopher L

来源：Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 2017, 38(1): 37-48.

DOI：10.1177/0379572116684730

• nutrition policy
• food policy
• Latin America
• public health

Background:In 2014, Ecuador became the first country in Latin America to adopt the nutritional traffic light labeling system as a public policy aimed at guiding informed food choices.
Objective:To describe the differences in comprehension and use of the new nutrition label in 2 different ethnic populations residing in a limited resource area of central Ecuador.
Methods:A total of 394 women (18-75 years, 54.8% indigenous and 45.2% mixed-race mestizas) were randomly selected in the Chimborazo Province and were requested by a questionnaire to provide information regarding their awareness and comprehension of the traffic light nutritional labeling system and personal use of the food label in food selection.
Results:Indigenous women had a high percentage who lacked any formal education (43.5%) and a greater proportion were not aware of the labeling system when compared with the mestizas (84.3% vs 46%; P = .001). In both groups, the main reason for not reading labels was lack of understanding of its meaning (50% indigenous vs 32.7% mestiza; P < .05). The reported use of the labeling system for food choices was lowon average, 32% of the mestizas and 5% of the indigenous women reported using nutrition label information to guide their purchase and consumption of packaged food items.
Conclusion:The use of nutritional labeling is low in both mestiza and indigenous Ecuadorians, although higher among the mestizas. Among the indigenous women, mostly likely owing to less education, limited nutrition-related health knowledge, and higher risk for food insecurity, the utility of the new traffic light food label is limited.

• 出版日期2017-3