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Does the Recent Chilean Regulation on Food Labelling Improve Chilean Population Knowledge on Nutritional Facts? A longitudinal comparison between 2012 and 2016
Author(s) -
Gregori Dario,
Gafare Claudia Elena,
Lorenzoni Giulia
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.30.7
Subject(s) - population , environmental health , psychological intervention , obesity , public health , government (linguistics) , labelling , medicine , developing country , gerontology , psychology , economic growth , pathology , linguistics , philosophy , criminology , psychiatry , economics
Obesity epidemic is concerning worldwide, both in developed and newly industrialized countries. It represents a severe public health issue, since obese subjects are prone to develop metabolic, cardiovascular, and orthopaedic diseases. In recent years, several public health interventions have been developed in order to fight such epidemic. Several governments worldwide have implemented interventions for obesity prevention by regulating food labelling. Particularly, the Chilean government has recently approved a regulation (law 20606/2012), aimed at improving consumers' knowledge on the content of food products' nutrients, by including front‐of‐packages labelling in products high in sodium, total sugar, satured fat, and energy. The aim of the present study is to assess knowledge about nutritional facts of Chilean population before and after the approval of the Chilean law on food labelling. In 2012, a “Computer Assisted Telephone Interview” (CATI) was conducted on a Chilean population‐based sample. The survey's questionnaire consisted of four main sections (participants socio‐demographic characteristics; attitudes towards the concepts of nutrition and obesity; understanding of nutritional facts; attitude towards the potential development of a new front‐of‐pack labelling). The survey was undertaken on a sample of 1280 Chilean subjects, selected using random digital dialling. The same survey is now taking place (on the same sample of subjects interviewed in 2012) in order to asses if the awareness of Chilean population on nutritional facts has improved, after the recent introduction of the regulation. Results of the 2012 survey revealed a concerning lack of knowledge about nutritional facts (most of subjects interviewed did not read the labels and reported a low interest in paying an additional fee for additional information about nutritional facts). Preliminary results of the survey, currently ongoing and planned to be over by early December, are based on 24% of the sample, and showed no improvements in labeling knowledge after 4 years with an increase about 0.97% (95% C.I 0.3%–1.7%). Evaluation of effectiveness of policies need longitudinal information and definition of sensitive targets. Improving knowledge of consumers is showing, on the basis of this preliminary results, to be a target not being caught by current Chilean regulation. Support or Funding Information Study has been done with a unrestricted grant from Prochild ONLUS, an Italian based ONG