Abstract
Objective
To investigate how acculturation and poverty are independently and jointly associated
with the use of the Nutrition Facts panel (nutrition label) and to examine the extent
to which nutrition label use moderates the association of poverty and acculturation
on dietary quality among Latinos.
Design
Cross-sectional analysis of the 2007/2008 and 2009/2010 waves of the National Health
and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Participants
A total of 3,696 adults (aged >19 years) self-identified as Latino/Hispanic with food
label use data from the most recent Consumer Behavior Phone Follow-Up Modules.
Main Outcome Measure(s)
Nutrition label use and dietary quality.
Analysis
Logistic regression.
Results
Acculturation moderated the association of income on the likelihood of using nutrition
labels, such that lower-income English-speaking Latinos were half as likely as higher-income
English-speakers to use nutrition labels (P = .01, odds ratio [OR] = 0.44, 95% confidence
interval [CI], 0.24–0.81); however, Spanish speakers were equally likely to use nutrition
labels across income levels (P = .99; OR = 1.00; 95% CI, 0.77–1.31). Nutrition label
use moderated the association of acculturation on diet. Among English-speaking Latinos,
those who read nutrition labels had less than half the risk for poor diet (P =.001;
OR = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.26–0.69); however, label use was not significantly associated
with the diet quality of Spanish speakers (P = .07; OR = 0.82; 95% CI, 0.67–1.02).
Nutrition label use decreased the risk for poor dietary quality regardless of poverty
status.
Conclusions and Implications
Overall, results demonstrated a positive association between the use of the Nutrition
Facts panel for Latinos and dietary quality. An important nutrition education strategy
among bicultural Latinos at risk for a poor diet as a result of acculturation may
include label reading comprehension. This approach may also address the low rates
of label use. The study provides evidence of segmented assimilation in which low-income,
bicultural Latinos follow an underclass pattern of acculturation demonstrated by a
lower likelihood of reading nutrition labels and higher-income, bicultural Latinos
follow the more successful selective pattern.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
May 29,
2018
Received in revised form:
May 18,
2018
Received:
November 1,
2017
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
