Objective:

Evaluate the use, subjective and objective understanding of the GDA frontal labeling to assist the population towards making healthy decisions regarding the products they consume.

Materials and methods:

The use of nutritional information contained in products´ packages (GDA, nutritional information table, and list of ingredients), as well as the subjective and objective comprehension of the GDA labeling, were assessed among people older than 20 years old.

Results:

A total of 43 157 people were interviewed. Amid the labels, the nutritional table was read more frequently (11.1%). 24.6% (IC95%: 23.9-25.3) and 41.2% (IC95%: 40.4-42.1) of the interviewees classified products correctly as not healthy and high in sodium, respectively. These outcomes were smaller between the elderly, lower socioeconomic levels, lower educational levels, and rural areas.

Conclusions:

The results show that the GDA labeling is not useful to support the vulnerable population to make healthy decisions.

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