Table 5.
Attitudes towards food labels
| Question† | Total % | Age | Gender | Ethnicity (n 927) | Education | Knowledge score | Behaviour score | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21–39 years % |
40–59 years % |
≥ 60 years % |
P | Male % | Female % | P | Chinese % | Malay % |
Indian % |
P | Secondary school and below % | Post-secondary school % | University degree and above % | P | Mean | sd | P | Mean | sd | P | ||
| I choose food products according to my experience or knowledge and not according to food labels | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Agree | 53·7 | 54·5 | 54·0 | 52·1 | 51·1 | 56·1 | 54·4 | 46·5 | 61·4 | 48·7 | 51·9 | 59·7 | 4·2 | 1·6a | ** | 5·2 | 2·1a | ** | ||||
| Neither | 20·9 | 25·2 | 20·3 | 16·7 | 22·1 | 19·7 | 18·0 | 36·0 | 19·3 | 26·9 | 21·0 | 16·0 | 3·9 | 1·7a | 5·3 | 1·8a | ||||||
| Disagree | 25·5 | 20·3 | 25·7 | 31·2 | 26·8 | 24·3 | 27·5 | 17·5 | 19·4 | 24·4 | 27·1 | 24·3 | 4·6 | 1·7b | 6·1 | 2·1b | ||||||
| I think more positively of a food or beverage product if it is advertised as ‘lower in salt/ Na’. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Agree | 72·4 | 67·7 | 71·8 | 78·6 | 69·7 | 74·9 | 76·4 | 50·7 | 74·7 | ** | 73·3 | 69·2 | 75·7 | 4·3 | 1·7a | ** | 5·6 | 2·1a | ** | |||
| Neither | 18·6 | 23·0 | 17·1 | 15n8 | 20·5 | 16·8 | 15·9 | 36·1 | 14·6 | 15·9 | 23·4 | 14·4 | 3·9 | 1·7b | 4·8 | 2·1b | ||||||
| Disagree | 9·1 | 9·3 | 11·1 | 5·6 | 9·9 | 8·3 | 7·7 | 13·1 | 10·7 | 10·8 | 7·4 | 9·9 | 4·4 | 1·6 | 5·5 | 2·2 | ||||||
| I am confused about how to use the nutrition information panel to figure out how much Na is in the food I eat. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Agree | 31·1 | 25·7 | 34·6 | 31·9 | * | 27·7 | 34·4 | 28·6 | 49·0 | 23·5 | ** | 40·2 | 31·0 | 24·3 | ** | 4·0 | 1·5a | ** | 5·3 | 2·2 | ||
| Neither | 28·4 | 26·4 | 31·3 | 26·2 | 27·9 | 28·9 | 27·8 | 35·4 | 28·1 | 28·9 | 31·1 | 24·6 | 3·7 | 1·5a | 5·4 | 2·0 | ||||||
| Disagree | 40·5 | 47·9 | 34·2 | 41·9 | 44·4 | 36·8 | 43·6 | 15·5 | 48·4 | 30·9 | 38·0 | 51·1 | 4·8 | 1·8b | 5·6 | 2·1 | ||||||
| I don’t trust the information labelled in the nutrition information panel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Agree | 17·0 | 13·9 | 15·9 | 22·5 | * | 15·0 | 18·9 | 15·7 | 24·3 | 16·5 | ** | 24·9 | 16·5 | 11·6 | ** | 4·0 | 1·7a | ** | 5·8 | 2·3 | ||
| Neither | 33·3 | 28·5 | 38·1 | 31·0 | 32·6 | 33·9 | 30·1 | 52·7 | 31·9 | 38·0 | 35·4 | 26·8 | 4·0 | 1·6a | 5·4 | 2·1 | ||||||
| Disagree | 49·8 | 57·6 | 46·0 | 46·5 | 52·4 | 47·2 | 54·1 | 23·0 | 51·6 | 37·2 | 48·2 | 61·5 | 4·5 | 1·7b | 5·4 | 2·1 | ||||||
a,b,cMean values within a column with unlike superscript letters were significantly different (P < 0·05).
*
P < 0·05.
**
P < 0·01.
†
Responses aggregated into three categories: ‘Agree’ includes strongly and somewhat agree, and ‘Disagree’ includes strongly and somewhat disagree.