Front-of-package references to fiber on foods in Canadian supermarkets highlight the need for increased nutrition knowledge among consumers.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the nature of the guidance on fiber, a nutrient for which many Canadians' intakes are suboptimal, provided by manufacturers' use of front-of-package references on food in Canadian supermarkets.

DESIGN/SETTING: Survey of all prepackaged food sold in 3 large supermarkets in Toronto.

VARIABLES MEASURED

Front-of-package references to fiber and other forms of nutrition-related marketing were recorded from all products. For a subsample of breads, Nutrition Facts table information was also collected.

ANALYSIS

Descriptive statistics; t test.

RESULTS

Front-of-package references to fiber were found on 6% of all foods, but large proportions of high fiber foods bore no front-of-package references to fiber. Many foods making a reference to fiber (17%) are "foods to limit," according to Canada's Food Guide. Front-of-package references to fiber were declared in at least 30 different ways, and 31% used unregulated language. Among breads, use of regulated language was associated with higher fiber content.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Consumers may be faced with challenges in seeking out healthful sources of fiber in the grocery store, given the complexity of existing front-of-package nutrition-related marketing and limited references to fiber in some categories. This work suggests that current nutrition-related marketing cannot function as a substitute for nutrition education.