Most Americans Checking Nutritional Labels: Nielsen

Nielsen’s Global Online Consumer Confidence and Opinion Survey finds that a growing number of consumers are checking the nutritional data provided on food labels in search of health-related information.

The number of American consumers reading the nutritional labels on food packaging is increasing as obesity rates continue to rise and lifestyle-related heart disease is the number one killer worldwide. The major findings of this study include the following:

• 67% of U.S. consumers “mostly” understand the nutritional information on food packaging; 44% of worldwide consumers felt similarly.
• 51% of U.S. consumers say that they always scan labels for fat content, while 48% look for calorie content and 43% look for trans fat content.
• For 25% of U.S. shoppers who are trying to lose weight, reading labels is routine; 15% of global consumers act similarly.
• 80% of both U.S.-based and global consumers “never” look at the nutritional information on a label.
• 67% of American consumers say they understand the difference between saturated fat and unsaturated fat, compared with 60% of global consumers.
• 42% of global consumers and 24% of U.S. consumers check food labels for preservatives.