Integrating research into the undergraduate nutrition curriculum: Improving shoppers' awareness and understanding of nutrition facts labels

Undergraduate students in pre-professional, science-based programs need to develop an understanding of and facility with the multiple steps in the research process. Thus, we involved 21 nutrition students enrolled in either or both a nutrition education and a community nutrition class in a "real-life" research experience. Students assessed understanding and use of nutrition labels among a convenience sample of 145 shoppers in an urban Honolulu supermarket by asking shoppers in person either structured questions (n = 72) or a general question (n = 73) about the Nutrition Facts label. One-half of the shoppers reported using nutrition labels; 18% reported using labels "sometimes." Frequency of use did not differ by age, but Caucasians reported using labels more often than all of the other ethnic groups. About 90% of shoppers correctly answered questions in a structured interview about serving size, calorie, and fat content and made correct comparisons between similar products. About one-third could explain what numbers in the "% Daily Value" column meant. The intervention materials (brochure, grocery list, and folder) were designed by the students and revised by one of the authors. Students conducted pretest interviews in person at the same store with a second convenience sample of shoppers (n = 212),who were assigned by day of the week to control (n = 110) or intervention group (n = 102). Students conducted post-test interviews by telephone at a time arranged during the pretest. Responses of groups were compared by analysis of variance. Only shoppers in the intervention group were more likely to define "% DailyValue" correctly after the intervention (p < .05) than before. The pretest alone may have been effective in making shoppers more aware of labels, since both control and intervention groups increased awareness and use of labels (p < .05). The involvement of students through all phases of the project allowed them to gain an awareness of the entire research process, from sample selection and instrument design to data entry and interpretation of results.