A majority of Australians don’t know who to trust when it comes to nutrition advice a new survey has found.
The survey of 2000 Australian adults conducted by VicHealth found 3 in 5 don’t know where to get reliable nutrition advice, while 1 in 2 struggle to know if something is healthy when shopping at the supermarket.
VicHealth health promotion executive manager Michelle Murray said with claims like “low sugar”, “no artificial colours or flavours” and “natural” splashed across food labels, it’s hard to know what products are genuinely healthy.
“Supermarket aisles are battlefields of bright packaging and bold health claims. Each of the 30,000 supermarket products is vying for the attention of shoppers. It’s no wonder most people are confused about nutrition information,” Ms Murray said.
Introduced in 2014, the voluntary Health Star Rating system was designed to help shoppers cut through marketing spin and compare the healthiness of packaged supermarket foods at a glance.
But according to VicHealth, 2 in 3 packaged products don’t display health stars, and some food companies use it as a marketing tool by only putting them on higher-rating items.
“Our research shows that Australians find health stars helpful in deciding what packaged products are healthier, but food companies are dragging their feet. After 10 years just 36% of products carry health stars, which is well short of the 60 per cent target set by governments,” Ms Murray said.
VicHealth’s survey found that among Australians who use the health stars, almost 3 in 4 believe that when it’s included on labels they help understand which packaged products are healthier.
Among those who always use health stars, almost 9 in 10 found it useful for knowing which foods are healthier.
