According to information from a recent survey, 50% of Internet users believe that they are overweight, find out about the report.
More than half of the Internet users in the world (53%) consider themselves overweight and approximately half (48%) are trying to lose weight, in fact, 78 percent of them are undergoing some type of diet, according to a Nielsen Global Survey conducted in 2011 on more than 25,000 Internet users in 56 countries.
Six out of ten consumers worldwide (59%) have difficulties in understanding nutritional factors in food packaging; there are 52 percent who understand the labels “in part”; 41 percent understand them “for the most part”; and 7 percent of Internet users declare that they do not understand absolutely any of the nutritional information.
“Easy-to-understand nutrition labeling for consumers can be a powerful marketing tool, as it is what consumers are eager to see,” says James Russo, vice president of Global Consumer Insights, Nielsen.
By country, North Americans state that they understand nutrition labels very well, thus 58 percent state that they understand practically all the information that appears. By contrast, the Asia-Pacific region is where the lowest level of labeling understanding is seen with less than a third of consumers understanding nutritional information. Above all, the highest level of confusion appears among Chinese-speaking countries, while India, Australia and New Zealand are where they are best understood.
45 percent of European Internet users understand nutritional labeling, with Portugal being the country that best understands labels (60%) and France the least (31%).
They demand nutritional information
Regarding the accuracy and credibility of the nutritional information that appears on food packaging, such as “low fat” and “all-natural”. 33 percent of consumers trust the accuracy of calorie information, and 58 percent say it is sometimes accurate. They also rely on information about vitamins and fat content, in that order.
On the other hand, Internet users around the world are interested in having restaurant menus indicate the number of calories. 49 percent of respondents say that fast food restaurants should indicate so. In Spain, 42 percent declare that they would like independent restaurants to indicate the number of calories and nutritional data on their menus.
The demand for nutritional information to appear in fast food restaurants is higher in Latin America (64%), while in North America it is 56 percent and in Europe 53 percent. In contrast, there are only 28 percent of respondents who demand it in the markets of the Middle East and Africa.
“Consumers around the world have the importance of healthy eating in mind, and this is where everyone involved in packaged food has a great opportunity for collaboration,” says Russo.