A informação nutricional obrigatória dos rótulos dos alimentos e a prática de uma alimentação saudável: percepções sobre fatores motivadores, dificultadores e facilitadores

Abstract

The Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) prevention is a great challenge to global public health. An unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are mentioned as the predisposing for these diseases, demanding actions for people to make healthier choices, such as providing nutritional information to consumers, through simple, clear and consistent food labeling according to what The Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health from the World Health Organization recommends. In Brazil the Nutritional Information has been mandatory for more than 10 years. Hypothesis: Even though the consumers increasingly seek information about food and health, they don t apply the mandatory nutritional data available on food labels in their daily diet, especially because they do not understand them completely. Objectives: To investigate the reading, understanding and the use of Mandatory Nutrition Information for a healthy diet habit, as well as to identify what motivates, difficult and facilitates or stimulate these actions, to contribute to the improvement of legislation and educational tools, such as the Manual of Guidance to the Consumer Education for Healthy Consumption of National Health Surveillance Agency-ANVISA. Materials and Method: A qualitative research was performed by conducting five focus groups with different individuals of the society, intentionally selected: consumers, health professionals and technicians from the government and the food industry, those last two connected to food regulation. Results: The results confirm the consumer s search for a healthy diet, and that the reading of nutritional information, when it occurs, is usually devoid of meaning and appropriation. It shows that there are opportunities and interest among the actors in improving the form of the presentation, the content and the dissemination of the Mandatory Nutrition Information and Manual ANVISA. Also that the practice of a healthy diet involves a complex system composed of many sectors and factors and, therefore, is imperative to join forces among them to the effective use of the Mandatory Nutrition Information for the prevention of NCDs with the Brazilian population