Childhood obesity has been on the rise for decades with negative impact on health, psychology of the people and with significant economic cost to the society. Some risk factors attributed to obesity are quality and quantity of food, sugary drinks, and sedentary lifestyle. This project evaluates the effect of an educational intervention to improve parents’ nutrition label literacy as parents make healthy food choices for their children.
The literature review discussed the causes and consequences of childhood obesity, and importance of nutrition label literacy in prevention of childhood obesity. This quantitative descriptive study was conducted at an outpatient pediatric clinic among parents. One of the aims of the project was to identify the participants’ nutrition label illiteracy by administering a Food Label Literacy for Applied Nutrition Knowledge (FLLANK) pretest. Thirty participants completed the pre and post intervention questionnaire. 73.3% of the participants had a least a 2-year college degree and 60% made more than $45,000/ year. The results showed that irrespective of socioeconomic status, the participants improved in their nutrition label literacy after the educational intervention. It is important for healthcare providers to initiate early intervention in nutrition literacy in prevention of childhood obesity.