Abstract
Background and Aim: Nutrition labels are a basic requirement for every prepackaged food product. In the last decades, nutrition labels have been used as a tool to help people choose healthy foods to control body weight. The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of nutrition label users and to assess the effect of using nutrition labels on body mass index and body fat percentage among female students at Taibah university.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with 552 university students aged 18-24 years who were randomly selected from two different colleges at Taibah University in Madinah. A self-administered questionnaire was given, and BMI and body composition were measured.

Results: The outcomes of this study indicated that over 60% of the participants were not using nutrition labels. The prevalence of not using nutrition labels was significantly higher among participants who were from colleges of arts and humanities, unmarried, and obese. More than half (58.8%) of the participants reported that they looked at the number of calories listed on the nutrition labels first. Students’ responses showed that 62% of the participants wanted to take classes on how to read nutrition labels, and because of that, 40.7% participants did not read nutrition labels. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, obesity was significantly associated with nonuse of nutrition labels; the prevalence of obesity was 1.74-times higher in those who did not use nutrition labels than in those who used them (OR 1.74 and 95% CI: 1.07- 2.81, P<0.000).

Conclusions: This study showed the need to raise awareness about the importance of using nutrition labels among females. Health policy makers should implement nutritional guidance at all levels to encourage healthy eating habits among the young population. Regardless of BMI status, female college students would benefit from using nutrition labels.

Key words: Nutrition label, Health, Body mass index (BMI), Body composition (BC), Body fat percentage (BF%), Visceral fat level (VFL).