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Objective: This study aimed to identify correlates of nutrition label awareness and use, particularly subgroup differences among consumers. Two label types were assessed: (1) nutrition facts tables (NFt) in Australia, Canada, Mexico, UK, and USA and (2) front-of-package (FOP) labels, including mandatory Guideline Daily Amounts (Mexico), voluntary Health Star Ratings (Australia) and voluntary Traffic Lights (UK).Design: Respondents were recruited using Nielsen Consumer Insights Global Panel (n 21 586) and completed online surveys in November-December 2018. Linear regression and generalised linear mixed models examined differences in label use and awareness between countries and label type based on sociodemographic, knowledge-related and dietary characteristics.Setting: Australia, Canada, Mexico, UK and USA.Participants: Adults (≥18 years).Results: Respondents from the USA, Canada and Australia reported significantly higher NFt use and awareness than those in Mexico and the UK. Mexican respondents reported the highest level of FOP label awareness, whereas UK respondents reported the highest FOP label use. NFt use was higher among females, 'minority' ethnic groups, those with higher nutrition knowledge and respondents with 'adequate literacy' compared with those with 'high likelihood of limited literacy'. FOP label use was higher among those with a 'high likelihood of limited literacy' compared with 'adequate literacy' across countries.Conclusions: Lower use of mandatory Guideline Daily Amount labels compared with voluntary FOP labelling systems provides support for Mexico's decision to switch to mandatory 'high-in' warning symbols. The patterns of consumer label use and awareness across sociodemographic and knowledge-related characteristics suggest that simple FOP labels may encourage broader use across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The public health benefits of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes often rely on, among other things, changes to consumer purchases. Thus, perceived cost of SSBs and signalling effects—via awareness of the tax—may impact the effectiveness of SSB taxes on consumer purchases. Objective: The study sought to examine perceived cost of SSBs, tax awareness, and changes in beverage purchasing over time and across four countries with and without SSB taxes. Methods: The study used data from the 2017, 2018 and 2019 waves of the International Food Policy Study. Annual cross-sectional online surveys were conducted in Australia, Mexico, UK and US, which captured perceived cost of SSBs relative to non-SSBs in all countries (with Australia as a no-tax comparator), and measures of tax awareness and participants' reported changes in beverage purchasing in response to SSB taxes in Mexico (tax implemented in 2014), UK (tax implemented in 2018) and US (subnational taxes since 2015). Logistic regression models evaluated the measures across years and socio-demographic groups. Results: Perceived cost of SSBs relative to non-SSBs was higher in Mexico (all three years) and the UK (2018 and 2019 following tax implementation) than Australia and the US. Tax awareness was higher in UK than Mexico, and decreased over time among Mexican respondents. Patterns of reported beverage purchasing changes in response to the tax were similar across Mexico, UK and US, with the largest changes reported by Mexican respondents. Respondents with characteristics corresponding to lower socioeconomic status were less likely to be aware of an SSB tax, but more likely to perceive SSBs to cost more than non-SSBs and report changes in purchasing in response to the tax, where there was one. Conclusions: This study suggests that in countries where a national SSB tax was present (Mexico, UK), perceived cost of SSBs and tax awareness were higher compared to countries with no SSB tax (Australia) or subnational SSB taxes (US), respectively, and suggests that perceived cost and tax awareness represent distinct constructs. Improving the 'signalling effect' of existing SSB taxes may be warranted, particularly in tax settings where consumer behaviour change is a policy objective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite considerable public health interest in sugary drink consumption, there has been little comparison of intake across countries.Objectives: This study aimed to compare the consumption frequency and amounts of commonly consumed beverages among adults in 5 upper-middle- and high-income countries, and examine differences in consumption between population subgroups.Methods: Adults aged 18-65 y completed online surveys in December 2017 in Australia (n = 3264), Canada (n = 2745), Mexico (n = 3152), the United Kingdom (n = 3221), and the USA (n = 4015) as part of the International Food Policy Study. The frequency of consuming beverages from 22 categories in the past 7 d was estimated using the Beverage Frequency Questionnaire. Regression models were used to examine differences in the likelihood of any consumption and in the amounts consumed of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), sugary drinks (SSBs and 100% juice), diet, and alcoholic beverages between countries and across sociodemographic subgroups.Results: The prevalence of reported SSB consumption in the past 7 d ranged from 47% (United Kingdom) to 81% (Mexico), and that of sugary drinks ranged from 62% (United Kingdom) to 87% (Mexico). Rates of consumption of diet drinks ranged from 26% (Mexico) to 37% (United Kingdom), whereas alcoholic drink consumption rates ranged from 45% (USA) to 52% (Canada). Respondents in Mexico were more likely to consume SSBs and sugary drinks, and in greater amounts, than those in other countries. Respondents in the United Kingdom were more likely to consume diet drinks than those in Australia, Canada, and Mexico, and greater amounts of diet drinks were consumed in the United Kingdom and the USA. Across countries, younger respondents and males were more likely to consume greater amounts of SSBs and sugary drinks.Conclusions: Most adult respondents across all countries consumed SSBs and sugary drinks, with greater consumption in Mexico and the USA. Consumption varied greatly across countries, but patterns of association among subpopulations were relatively similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sociodemographic characteristics are associated with the dietary patterns of populations. However, the direction of the association is not consistent among countries: it is contingent on the nutritional transition phase, level of economic development, cultural contexts and both the social and health policies prevailing in each country. The objective of this study was to identify the trends in dietary patterns observed in 2006, 2012 and 2016 among Mexican adults by sociodemographic characteristic.Methods: To determine and compare dietary patterns, we performed a secondary analysis of dietary and sociodemographic data for adults 20-59 years old. Data were drawn from the 2006 and 2012 National Health and Nutrition Surveys (ENSANUTs) together with the 2016 Half-Way National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUTMC). To estimate the dietary patterns, we used an adapted version of the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) and a quantile-based regression model to compare the HEI medians by sociodemographic characteristic.Results: From 2006 to 2016, the quality of the diet of Mexican adults scored under 50 points on a scale of 0 to 100, markedly below the maximum scores for the majority of HEI-2015 components. Diet quality varied according to age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), area (urban/rural) and region of residence, with the highest quality observed among older individuals (within the 40-59 age group), women, people of lower SES and residents of rural areas, particularly in southern Mexico. Although this trend remained constant overall throughout 2006, 2012 and 2016, specific HEI-2015 components showed an opposite trend by sociodemographic strata.Conclusion: The diet quality of Mexican adults was suboptimal from 2006 to 2016, with notorious disparities persisting over time among sociodemographic strata. Our results can serve as a basis for formulating recommendations on ways to improve the population diet, where those components diverging the most from adequate scores could be highlighted in public-health messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]