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[Babette]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most Americans read food labels to help them decide what to buy but few people actually understand what they're reading or consuming, according to two U.S. studies published on Tuesday.

An online poll of 2,706 adults found half of Americans -- or 51 percent -- regularly read food labels to help them make informed choices about food with particular interested in fat, calorie and sugar content.

The poll, conducted jointly by Harris Interactive and the Wall Street Journal, found another third said they read food labels "sometimes" while 17 percent almost never read labels.

What do you think about this?

[atodd]

Oh I agree, and I tend to think I am a savvy shopper and knowlegable consumer, but even I have to go hmmm with a few things. But just reading the outside packaging without reading the back label (the fine print as I now like to call it) can make you think you are eating better than you are.

[babs]

My problem is, every time I read the lable I convince myself not to buy something... If I can't pronounce it I probably shouldn't eat it. This of course depresses me so I sometimes avoid turning the package around.
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Babette
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[Guest]

Alot of it is much less scary than it sounds, I assure you. Sometimes they just use really ridiculously fancy names for things like simple sugar, which they call high fructose corn syrup, but is simply a perfectly natural sweetener made from corn instead of cane sugar, with almost ientical makeup.

[Anna]

Wow... interesting topic. I use to not read labels but learned how to read labels. You are what you eat.