Registered nutritionist and dietician, Rosalee Brown, is raising concerns that many Jamaicans may be endangering their health by not paying enough attention to food labels, serving sizes and their links to obesity and other chronic lifestyle diseases.

"Many Jamaicans sometimes do not understand what the labels are really saying. So while they may be health conscious and check on the calorie listing on a product, they end up taking in more calories than they think they are," says Brown, who is scheduled to speak about labels, consumer awareness and the inter-relationship with nutrition and lifestyle diseases at the Forever Young Expo slated for March 31- April 1, at the Hilton Kingston hotel, New Kingston.

Simple mistakes

According to Brown, there are certain 'simple' mistakes that could prove detrimental to healthy eating.

"Many people make the assumption that the number of calories listed on a product is for the entire container and not for the serving size," explains Brown, who has been a nutritionist for over 10 years. "So the label may say 250 calories per serving, which means that if there are four servings in the box and you eat the entire box you would have consumed 1,000 calories. But the consumer might just think there are 250 calories if you eat the entire box."

The Ministry of Health's National Policy for the Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles in Jamaica shows that about 30 per cent of men and 60 per cent of Jamaican women are overweight. Chronic diseases including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and cancer now account for 56 per cent of deaths annually.