Performance Characteristics of Seven Nutrition Label Formats

The authors evaluate seven nutrition label formats to determine consumer comprehension and acceptance of displayed information. They test comprehension on five tasks: comparing two products, judging healthfulness, verifying claims, estimating servings needed to meet the daily requirement for a nutrient, and balancing nutrients in a daily diet. Performance scores were higher on some tasks—particularly dietary management ones—for formats that displayed nutrient amounts in percentages than for those that displayed nutrient amounts in metric units, even when interpretational aids were included on the metric formats. The two most preferred formats were metric formats with an interpretational aid. The findings have an important impact on decisions about the final nutrition label format required by the Food and Drug Administration.