Martinez, Olivia D., et al. “A Survey of Undergraduate Student Perceptions and Use of Nutrition

Information Labels in a University Dining Hall.” Health Education Journal, vol. 72,

No.3, SAGE Publications, 2013, pp. 319–25, doi:10.1177/0017896912443120.

Summary:

            In the article tilted “A Survey of Undergraduate Student Perceptions and Use of Nutrition Information Labels in a University Dining Hall,” a survey was distributed toward 487 undergraduates at an urban United States University during the year of 2009-2010. The students were asked to take a survey for USD $2. The survey consists of variety questions regarding the necessity of nutrition label in university dining halls and online. Each respondent was also needed to fill out their personal information such as sex, age, height, weight, etc. As a result, the survey showed that majority of the respondent thinks implementing nutrition label is essential to the consumers. In addition to that, “ninety-six percent” (Martinez et al. 321) of the respondent wants the label both in the dining hall and online. However, there is a conundrum toward the minorities of the respondent; They were feeling some sort of embarrassment when “holding up the line” while examining the nutrition labels. This is where the online resource comes in handy. Issues like this can be easily resolved when there is also a nutritional label online for the student. In addition, students may generate a healthy meal plan of their own based on the online nutritional information before going to the dining hall. In fact, “overweight/ obese students were also more likely to report that the labels influenced them to choose a lower calorie and/or healthier food option.” (Martinez et al. 323)

 

Evaluation/Reflection: 

            There were plenty of interesting point that stood out to me after reading this article by Martinez, Olivia D., et al. First, the source is reliable by the fact that the survey consists of hundreds of undergraduate respondents from urban United States University. In addition,         there were also several statistics provided by Yale University with actual questions asked in the survey with the answers divided between sex and weight of the respondent. Moreover, the article also talks about an important phrase “meal decision.” Before the nutrient label was implanted in dining halls and online, students were not aware of any nutritional factor that they are intaking. Which when they finally realize their unhealthy meal plans, they are already diagnosed with obese, diabetes, overweight and other potential health risking illness. On the other hand, there were factors that might reduce the usage of nutrition label by the student. In the article, it mentioned how student were embarrassed while looking in the nutrition label online which I think the perfect solution is to establish the label online as well. After reading Martinez’s article, I think there is several major points that I can use to enhance my perspective when writing my essay.

 

Source:

Christoph, Mary J., et al. “The Influence of Nutrition Label Placement on Awareness and Use

Among College Students in a Dining Hall Setting.” Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and

           Dietetics, vol. 116, no. 9, Elsevier Inc, 2016, pp. 1395–405, doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2016.05.003.

Summary:

            In the article “The Influence of Nutrition Label Placement on Awareness and Use Among College Students in a Dining Hall Setting,” two thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine students in four university dining halls were executing a test on how often students use the nutrition label in the dining halls. In addition, results shows that nearly half of the percentages of the responders were not aware of the nutrition label. Additionally, with the other half that were aware of the label, some had declined the usage of it. “I did not see the calorie information,” “I did not understand the calorie information,” (Christoph et al 1398) tends to be the two major reasons for the rejection. The nutritional label may provide very specific information about the particular food but not everything is understandable by the students. Therefore, the information was not perceived by the consumers and the whole project of establishing nutrition label is dispensable. In the table provided regarding the research (Christoph et al 1402), it shows that Calories, Fat, and Protein were the most frequent factor that was perceived by the consumers when examining the nutrition label. These certainly are the common factors that leads to health risking issues like obese and overweight but apart from that, sugar intake is also a huge factor that can potentially put our health at risk. Therefore, researchers conclude that making “easy-to-read” labels were a solution to the problem. (Christoph et al 1403)

Evaluation/Reflection: 

After reading this article by Christoph, Mary J, I noticed that even if nutritional labels were established in dining halls, majority of the people will not be aware of it. In fact, they might be confused rather than acknowledged. Therefore, the point on making nutrition label easier to read is crucial. Food consuming is sometimes dangerous when you overdose it because the nutrition in the food may surpass your daily intake. With that information, I think I can add more details to my essay on different specific nutrition that can have different effect on our health. Also, this article uses 28 different references and conducted various tables and graphs that clarify the details of their research which I think makes the whole reading credible.