National prevalence and trends in food labeling awareness, comprehension, usage, and COVID-19 pandemic-related factors in South Korea, 2014–2022

Abstract

Although food labeling on food packages is crucial for promoting a healthy diet, limited research has been conducted on how the COVID-19 pandemic (hereinafter “the pandemic”) has affected food labeling awareness. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the changes in trends in food labeling awareness, comprehension, and usage in South Korea during the pandemic. We utilized a nationwide, large-scale, and long-term dataset provided by the Korea Community Health Survey (KCHS) from 2014 to 2022 (total = 1,756,847 participants). This allowed the researchers to assess the long-term trends in the prevalence of food labeling awareness, comprehension, and usage. Furthermore, we investigated the factors associated with awareness specifically related to the pandemic. In total, 1,756,847 adults (54.19% women) participated in this study. The upward slope in overall food labeling awareness became less pronounced and even exhibited a downward slope during the pandemic (βdiff − 1.759; 95% CI − 1.874 to − 1.644). The upward slope in food labeling comprehension and usage became more pronounced during the pandemic (comprehension: βdiff 0.535; 95% CI 0.436–0.634; usage: βdiff 0.693; 95% CI 0.601–0.785). The vulnerability factors associated with lower food labeling awareness during the pandemic included older age, male, obesity, residing in rural areas, lower household income, lower educational level, smoking, and increased alcohol consumption. This study analyzed the 9-year trend in the prevalence of food labeling awareness, comprehension, and usage based on nationally representative data of adults in South Korea from 2014 to 2022. Our findings suggest that personalized nutrition strategies are needed to recognize vulnerable groups with risk factors and improve food labeling awareness among Korean adults during the pandemic.

National prevalence of atopic dermatitis in Korean adolescents from 2009 to 2022

“…Our research aimed to confirm the trend in the prevalence of AD among adolescents from 2009 to 2022 16 , 18 . Additionally, the objective of our study was to investigate the risk factors associated with atopic dermatitis.…”

“…In this study, we used data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBS) from 2009 to 2022 14 , 15 . The KYRBS is an online survey administered to Korean adolescents in computer laboratories at their schools, and it utilizes a self-reporting method that monitors the health and behavior of Korean youths while being supervised by the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) 9 , 16 . This data includes information about behaviors and health such as smoking, drinking, physical activity, and allergic diseases.…”

“…This data includes information about behaviors and health such as smoking, drinking, physical activity, and allergic diseases. To ensure that the survey data reflects the entire Korean population, it employs sample selection methods such as stratified cluster sampling and two-step stratification 16 , 17 . And the weighting is calculated by multiplying the inverse of the sampling rate by the inverse of the response rate, and then multiplying this by the post-adjustment weighting rate 16 .…”

“…To ensure that the survey data reflects the entire Korean population, it employs sample selection methods such as stratified cluster sampling and two-step stratification 16 , 17 . And the weighting is calculated by multiplying the inverse of the sampling rate by the inverse of the response rate, and then multiplying this by the post-adjustment weighting rate 16 . The data collected included all adolescents aged 13–18 years with a response rate over 95% while participants with missing data were excluded.…”

National prevalence of smoking among adolescents at tobacco tax increase and COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, 2005–2022

“…All analyses in the study were performed via SPSS (version 29.0; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and R software (version 4.3.1; R Foundation, Vienna, Austria). Statistical significance was set when a two-sided P-value was less than 0.05 24 – 27 .…”