Research shows that six in 10 shoppers agree that they “mostly” understand nutritional information on food packaging, while 35 percent only grasp the nutrition data “in part” and 7 percent do not comprehend the information at all. Clearly, today’s consumers are confused by inconsistent and often unclear labels on products.

Add to that the additional challenge of impaired vision that often accompanies age and the consequence is clear for older shoppers.

As Nielsen concludes in this article, one key area where retailers can easily help consumers meet their health and wellness goals is in labels and improved label clarity should lead to better in-store nutrition decisions.

Generally, as people age they become more concerned about their health and wellbeing so it is reasonable to assume that older people are key to the trend cited by Nielsen that “the number of consumers checking labels has increased in the last eight years”.

Marketers often need to juggle regulatory issues, multi-lingual packaging and other challenges when designing pack labels, so I think the solution beyond just the marketers and package designers to include regulatory authorities and the retailers.

Surely too, technology can play a role? Just as we now have price checking facilities in many supermarkets and apps to check various aspects of products, perhspa these technologies can be extended to cover labelling and nutritional information?