Impacto del semáforo nutricional sobre el consumo de grasas, azúcares y sal en sujetos con sobrepeso

Abstract

Introduction: Six out of ten people in Ecuador are overweight and obese, a situation that worried the Ecuadorian government. Implementing the state policy to add a graphic food labeling system, to educate and raise awareness about the nutritional content of processed foods. Aim: To determine the impact of the graphic nutritional labeling system on the consumption of processed foods in overweight subjects. Methodology: Non-experimental cross-sectional study; applied to 60 people selected through convenience sampling. The impact of the graphic food system was studied through the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the population, anthropometric measurements, body composition, and sociodemographic characteristics were taken. A structured survey was applied, the information was analyzed with the JMP 11.0 software. Results: Most of the population was between 20 and 40 years old and 76.67% were women. The average BMI was 28.33kg / m2, the body fat mass of 33.29% was considered in excess. The relationship between knowledge, attitudes, and practices and the graphic labeling system indicates that knowledge is high, attitudes are favorable and practices are inappropriate due to the infrequent consumption of foods high in sodium, very frequent foods high in sugar. and frequent high-fat foods. Conclusions: The graphic labeling system did not have a significant impact on the level of consumption of fat, sugars, and salt in overweight patients.