Posted: October 31st, 2009 - 10:38am
Source: Ottawa Citizen

The majority of Canadians stay informed about nutrition from food labels even though many may not be reading them correctly, according to a study released Friday by the Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition.
The 2009 Tracking Nutrition Trends: A 20-Year History report found in 2008 that 68 per cent of Canadians rely on product labels as their primary source for nutritional information, followed by the Internet (51 per cent), magazines, newspapers and books (46 per cent), friends and relatives (41 per cent) and doctors (40 per cent).
The remaining groups listed the government (22 per cent), fitness programs (20 per cent and dietitians (18 per cent) as their main source for nutrition.
The non-profit Toronto-based organization said governments should ramp up efforts to promote education and awareness programs surrounding food labels.
"(The) CCFN is calling on government, health associations, the food industry and all health related sectors to step up education of food nutrition labelling to help all Canadians have a better understanding of what their food contains," said Francy Pillo-Blocko, the group's president and CEO in a news release.