their health. It regularly issues and updates food
information on product safety, recalls, warnings and
approvals. This information is made public in almost
all media:
FDA Consumer. This is the official magazine of the
FDA. It is a good source for the latest information
on FDA-related issues, gathered from FDA news
releases and other sources.
Consumer print publications. Almost 100 short bro-
chures on nutrition-related issues are available on
request or downloadable from the FDA website.
FDA & You. An electronic newsletter for teens,
parents, and educators with current information on
many of the FDA medical product and health topics.
Quick Information for Your Health. Easy-to-read
health information. Some titles are available as print-
able forms from the FDA website or as printed bro-
chures for ordering.
American Diabetes Association
The association distributes nutritional informa-
tion related to diabetes and health. Its bookstore has
award-winning books on nutrition, recipes, weight
loss, meal planning and more. Examples are:
Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy
The Complete Guide to Carb Counting
Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cooking
Nutrition literacy issues
There are presently two major issues affecting
nutrition literacy. The most serious is illiteracy, fol-
lowed by the difficult readability of some nutrition
information:
Illiteracy: Estimates of the prevalence of illiteracy in
the United States vary according to the sources and
criteria used to define it. But it is generally agreed
that economic, social and cultural factors all contrib-
ute to higher rates of illiteracy in some population
groups. Results from the 2003 National Assessment
of Adult Literacy (NAAL) included health literacy
results. The results were based on assessment tasks
designed specifically to measure the health literacy of
adults living in the United States. Health literacy was
reported using four performance levels: Below Basic,
Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. The majority of
adults (53%) were found to have Intermediate health
literacy. Some 22% had Basic and 14% had Below
Basic health literacy. The relationship between
health literacy and factors such as educational level,
age, race and ethnicity, sources of information about
health issues were also examined. It was found that
adults with Below Basic or Basic health literacy were
less likely than adults with higher health literacy to
obtain information about health issues from written
sources (newspapers, magazines, books, brochures,
or the Internet) and more likely than adults with
higher health literacy to get information about health
issues from radio and television.
Readability of nutrition information: Since impor-
tant nutrition materials are often written at levels
that are too difficult for low-literate readers, efforts
are now directed at presenting nutrition information
that can match the reading abilities and learning
styles of the intended audience. Increasing research
is being performed on the overall readability nutri-
tion information. Techniques such as Cloze tests and
the Language Experience Approach have been
adapted to help develop materials for specific low-
literate target groups. Low-literacy materials and
guides for educators are also becoming increasingly
available. Professionals that survey nutrition educa-
tion have recommended materials that are low-cost,
and of the type mostly used in patient education. A
recent study reported that 68% of a group of nutri-
tion publications representative of material com-
monly distributed to the public were written at
ninth grade level or higher. 11% were at the sixth
grade level or below and only two publications were
written at the third grade level. The conclusion is that
many nutrition publications can be read and under-
stood by literate Americans, but very few can be
understood by the millions that have limited literacy
skills. Another study reviewed the readability of
books recommended to consumers by professional
nutrition and dietetic organizations. The grade level
required to read the recommended books was the
tenth grade and more than 40% required a reading
level that exceeds that of popular magazines. Only
one recommended book was written at a level that
was understandable by adults with low-literacy
skills.Parental concernsNutrition literacy is important for parents so that
they may first of all understand how food helps main-
tain health and prevent disease. It is also important so
that they can teach their kids how to use nutritional
information to develop good eating habits. Fortu-
nately, as a result of our living in the ‘‘information
age’’, resources are increasingly available to help
parents develop nutrition literacy in their children.
Major federal agencies such as the FDA and the
USDA maintain websites that now have pages specif-
ically designed to develop health and nutrition literacyNutrition literacy