Chinese adults' nutrition label literacy in Hong Kong: Implications for nurses

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate Chinese adults' nutrition label literacy in Hong Kong. It employed a web‐based survey with structured questions. A total of 368 Chinese adults aged 18‐59 participated in the survey and their nutrition label literacy was measured by the Newest Vital Sign (NVS). About two‐thirds (68%) of the participants had limited nutrition literacy skills. Although they were able to identify correctly the calorie and sugar content of food products, 44% and 48% of them had difficulty in determining the consumption of calories and serving food sizes respectively. Another finding from the survey was that those with lower education level and of older age had significantly lower mean nutrition label literacy scores, which indicated that they were at higher risk for food insecurity. The findings showed that the nutrition label literacy level of Hong Kong's general public is quite low. This study can provide insights for nurses and healthcare professionals on how to educate people with lower education level and/or of advanced age to use nutrition labels more effectively and to further nutrition label literacy study and research, particularly in Hong Kong.

Nutrition Literacy of Middle School Students and Its Influencing Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study in Chongqing, China

“…As childhood is a transitory phase with strong learning ability and high malleability, more nutrition education should be provided for middle school students in the absence of nutrition knowledge, and advanced information technologies could be applied to make nutrition information more accessible ( 39 ). With regard to the difficulties in obtaining nutrition information, methods to make students understand food labels more easily should be explored, such as popularizing specific label elements and terminologies and simplifying or translating food labels ( 40 ). Although students obtained nutrition information primarily by the internet, television and radio, these tools can be used to bolster their media nutrition literacy and CNL.…”

The Effect of Sociodemographic and Anthropometric Variables on Nutritional Knowledge and Nutrition Literacy

“…In a study by Zoellner et al (2009), 48.0% of the participants were announced to have adequate nutrition literacy, and in another study by Michou et al (2019), 90.0% of the participants were announced to have adequate nutrition literacy [6,21]. In another study on 368 nurses in China, it was shared that 68.0% of the participants had borderline nutrition literacy [22]. In the present research, women had higher nutrition literacy scores than men (p < 0.001).…”

“…To cite an example, in the study by Aihara and Mina (2011) on the nutrition literacy levels of the elderly Japanese people, it was declared that only 30.7% of the participants had sufficient nutrition literacy [23]. The consumers' low education level and advanced age were identified as negatively correlated with nutrition literacy scores, albeit the participants did not have trouble reading the energy and sugar content of the food on the food labels; it was underpinned that they had difficulty determining the portion size [22]. Middle-income individuals are witnessed to have higher nutritional literacy, and higher nutritional literacy is positively correlated with education level [23].…”

Using the health belief model to understand the factors influencing the perceptions of people of Chinese ancestry about reducing salt consumption for hypertension prevention: A cross-sectional study

“…For example, people in Singapore were encouraged to reduce their salt consumption by a small amount each day [ 58 ]. Chinese Australians with limited English and poor nutrition-label literacy skills would have difficulties in determining the salt content of food products [ 59 ]. Assisting Chinese Australians to select low-salt cultural food products may promote and empower their self-care ability to change their habitual salt-consumption behaviours.…”