Shoppers Look for the ‘Low Salt’ Label
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Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — When it comes to buying low sodium foods, seeing the words “low salt” or “low sodium” on the front of an item appears to have more of an impact on consumers than the product’s nutrition label.
According to the results of a survey of 3,729 adults published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, 58 percent of respondents reported buying food items that were labeled “low sodium” on the front, but only 47 percent of those surveyed actually read the nutrition label looking at the sodium content.
The study suggests that front labels may be a more effective way for food companies to reach consumers with messages about the health of their foods.
The study also found about a third of Americans say they specifically buy foods labeled “low” or “reduced salt or sodium” when they’re grocery shopping.
Study author Jessica Lee Levings of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention says food manufacturers “can meet this demand [for low sodium foods] by producing food items that are lower in sodium and including this information on the front of their packages.”
Medical observers not involved in the study note that because the survey was conducted by mail, it contains a response bias since only some choose to respond. The observers also note there may be an underrepresentation of socioeconomic and minority groups in the survey, and those are the people who have been shown to have the most problems with nutrition labels.
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