Research Article Nutrition Marketing on Food Labels Continuing Education Questionnaire available at www.sne.org/ Meets Learning Need Codes for RDs and DTRs 4000, 4020, and 4030. Sarah E. Colby, PhD, RD; LuAnn Johnson, MS; Angela Scheett, MPH, RD; Bonita Hoverson, RD ABSTRACT Objective: This research sought to determine how often nutrition marketing is used on labels of foods that are high in saturated fat, sodium, and/or sugar. Design and Setting: All items packaged with food labels (N ¼ 56,900) in all 6 grocery stores in Grand Forks, ND were surveyed. Main Outcome Measure(s): Marketing strategy, nutrient label information, if the product was fruit/or milk based, and target age. Analysis: Frequency distributions were computed. Results: Forty-nine percent of all products contained nutrition marketing and of those, 48% had both nutrition marketing and were high in saturated fat, sodium and/or sugar (11%, 17%, and 31% respec- tively). Seventy-one percent of products marketed to children had nutrition marketing. Of those, 59% were high in saturated fat, sodium and/or sugar content, with more than half being high in sugar. The most commonly used nutrition marketing statements were ‘‘good source of calcium’’, ‘‘reduced/low/fat free’’, and ‘‘food company’s health symbol’’. Conclusions and Implications: Nutrition marketing is commonly used on products high in saturated fat, sodium and/or sugar and is more often used on products marketed toward children than products mar- keted toward adults. Current food industry symbols may not be helping consumers select foods low in sat- urated fat, sodium or sugar. Key Words: marketing, food labels, dietary fat, sodium, sugar, children (J Nutr Educ Behav. 2010;42:92-98.) INTRODUCTION Given the serious rise in obesity, and specifically childhood obesity, the practice of marketing non-nutrient– dense food to children has instigated a worldwide debate regarding legal policy and food industry responsibil- ity. Marketing influences consumer food purchasing and consumption be- havior. By influencing purchasing and consumption behavior, marketing may be a contributing factor in the obesity epidemic. Nutrition marketing can be defined as any marketing (including market- ing on television, radio, or food labels) of food or beverages using health or nutrition information beyond mini- mum requirements. By this defini- tion, a health claim would be a form of nutrition marketing. Currently the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates labeling on packaged food, including the nutrition facts panel, health claims, and nutrient content claims. Historically, television advertise- ments have been considered the dom- inant marketing strategy for food and beverage products. Although televi- sion is still considered the most com- mon strategy, there are many other existing and emerging marketing strat- egies, including: nutrition informa- tion on food labels; embedded marketing (eg, product placement in television shows, movies, games, mag- azines); viral marketing (‘‘word of mouth’’); sales promotions (eg. cou- pons, direct mailings, catalogs); co- branding (eg, different companies create 1 new product); cross-promo- tions (eg, new products introduced and sold with existing products); mar- keting tie-ins (eg, restaurants using movie promotional materials); pre- miums (eg, toys or giveaways with product purchase); on-line promotions (eg, games, targeted e-mailing); event and location marketing (eg, school, sporting events); and wireless market- ing (eg, cell phones, PDAs, pagers). 1 Marketing campaigns may use many of these strategies in combination. Although most nutrition and mar- keting research is focused on the impact of television advertising, nutri- tion marketing used on food labels may also influence consumption pat- terns. There has been an increase in consumption of food away from home in recent years; however, over half of United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Grand Forks Hu- man Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, ND Sarah Elizabeth Colby is now affiliated with the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Human Ecology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. Address for correspondence: Sarah Elizabeth Colby, PhD, RD, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Human Ecology, East Carolina University, Rivers 333, Greenville, NC 27858-4353; Phone: (252) 328-9414; E-mail: colbys@ecu.edu PUBLISHED BY ELSEVIER INC. ON BEHALF OF THE SOCIETY FOR NUTRI- TION EDUCATION doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2008.11.002 92 Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior  Volume 42, Number 2, 2010