الملخص
Objectives@#While food product labelling is deemed important in providing consumer information, little is known about the characteristics of those reading and not reading. This study aimed to determine the socio-demographic characteristics of Filipino adult consumers reading and not reading food product labels and nutrition facts to provide insights on their understanding and usage of food labels that may help in designing better label formats of packaged foods and related health education campaigns.@*Methods@#Cross-sectional design using secondary data from the Expanded National Nutrition Survey (ENNS) 2018- 2019 was employed. A survey form on Reading Food Product Labels and Nutrition Facts in the ENNS 2018-2019 were collected through face-to-face interviews. Descriptive statistics, test of proportions, and logistic regression were done using Stata version 16.@*Results@#Always reading product labels were reported only by 19.6% of adult consumers, 18 years old and above, while 45.9% reported not reading food product labels. Among those who read food product labels, only 16.7% reported reading nutrition facts. Higher proportions of adults reading nutrition facts were found among those who attained a higher educational level, were less than 40 years old, living in urban residences, and belonging to higher wealth status. ‘Not interested’ was the top reason of adults who reported not reading nutrition facts.@*Conclusion@#Reading product labels and nutrition facts is not common among Filipino adults. Being not interested was the top reason for not reading food product labels. Older persons, adults with low educational attainment, and belonging to poor households were more likely to not read food product labels and not influenced by nutrition facts which imply the need for a food label format that would cater to those who cannot or have difficulty reading food labels and nutrition facts. An intensified campaign on the importance of reading food product labels is also needed.
الملخص
Background@#Unhealthy diet, including high consumption of beverages with added sugars, has been attributed to the increasing trend of overweight and obesity. @*Objectives@#This study explored the trend in beverage consumption and estimated the percent energy contribution of beverages to the total energy intake of selected population groups in the Philippines from 2008 to 2019. @*Methodology@#The proportions, mean intakes, and percentile distributions of energy intake from beverages of selected population groups in 2008, 2013, and 2018-2019 used in this study were estimated using the National Nutrition Surveys by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute. Two analyses were done for the energy intake from beverages: (1) beverages excluding milk and dairy products, and (2) all beverages. The energy intake from sugars and syrups was also noted. @*Results@#Results showed that the mean energy intake for beverages increased from 2008 to 2018-2019 for all age groups. The mean contribution of beverages to total energy intake, excluding milk and dairy products, was generally low but increased from 2008 to 2018-2019 with ranges from 2.3-3.7% and 2.8%-5.2%, respectively. However, high beverage consumers or those consuming ≥120 kcal per day, even excluding milk and dairy products, were observed in 6.3% of children 6 months to 5 years, 10.3% of children 6-12 years old, 16.1% of adolescents, 23.5% of adults, and 13.0% of pregnant women in 2018-2019. @*Conclusion@#Behavior change communication strategies are needed to prevent obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases, particularly in the population groups with a high consumption of caloric beverages.