adolescent nutritional awareness and use of food labels results from the national nutrition health and examination survey青少年的营养意识和食品标签的使用从全国营养健康和调查结果.pdfVIP

Wojcicki and Heyman BMC Pediatrics 2012, 12:55 /1471-2431/12/55 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Adolescent nutritional awareness and use of food labels: Results from the national nutrition health and examination survey * * Janet M Wojcicki and Melvin B Heyman Abstract Background: Awareness of federal nutrition programs and use of the nutrition facts label are associated with reduced risk for obesity and increased intake of fruits and vegetables. Relationships between nutrition programs, use of food labels and risk for overweight and obesity have rarely been evaluated in adolescents. Methods: Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2005–6, we evaluated the frequency of nutrition awareness of USDA and CDC nutrition programs and use of food labels in adolescents. Risk for overweight (BMI ≥ 85-94th percentile) and obesity (BMI ≥ 95th percentile) was assessed in relation to nutrition awareness and label reading. Results: Most adolescents (92.4%) were aware of the Food Guide Pyramid. Fewer (43.5%) were aware of the 5-A-Day Program, and even less (29.3%) were aware of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Less than 25% of adolescents decided which foods to purchase by reading material on the nutrition facts label. There were significant racial and ethnic differences in awareness of federal nutrition programs with Mexican-Americans having the lowest levels of awareness of the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food Guide Pyramid in comparison with other groups. Non-Hispanic whites had higher and African-American adolescents had lower frequencies of reading fat information on the nutrition label in comparison to Mexican-American and other Hispanics. Awareness of other nutrition programs or of other information on the nutrition facts label