Dieters better understand food labels

Those who are on diets are more likely to read and understand food labels than those who are not, new research has found.

It checked out 255 people, 115 of whom were people in a slimming group. The remaining 140 people were not following any type of diet. All were questioned about their food and shopping habits, their mood and their overall wellbeing.

The study discovered that those who work in the slimming group were significantly more prone to use food labels when grocery shopping. Additionally they had better awareness of nutrition and felt well informed if this came to choosing healthier foods.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, people who were pleased with their weight tended to have higher levels of wellbeing.

"People who're trying to lose weight make a lot more effort to see the labels on food than other people do. Reading labels informs people by what is in their food and helps them to make decisions by what they will and does not eat.

"As a result, choosing to not eat unhealthy foods can help these to slim down which has an effect on their overall wellbeing," explained the study's author, Audrey Spencer, of Lancaster University.

She called for more education to help individuals know very well what exactly they're eating.

"There still appears to be lots of confusion about what is really a nutritious diet and the different labelling in supermarkets contributes to this. Greater priority ought to be provided to education associated with eating healthily rather than having an over-reliance on food labelling by manufacturers and retailers. If individuals have a better understanding, they'll make healthier choices," she added.

Her findings were presented in the recent annual conference of the British Psychological Society in Birmingham.