Poll: Informed choices may still be wrong

WASHINGTON (AP) -- People check the labels on food at the grocery store, but it doesn't stop them from eating what they want, an AP-Ipsos poll found.
Nearly 80 percent of Americans say they check food labels, looking for things like fat and calories and sugars. But 44 percent of people admit that even when the news is not good, they buy the food.
Two-thirds of Americans weigh too much. Why do they bother reading labels?
"I don't know, force of habit. I want to see what I'm getting myself into," says Loren Cook, 39, of Marysville, Wash.
The AP-Ipsos survey of 1,003 adults, conducted May 30 to June 1, found:
UWomen check labels more frequently than men, 65 percent versus 51 percent. They also place more importance on nutrition content, 82 percent to 64 percent.
UMarried men are more likely to check labels than unmarried men, 76 percent to 65 percent.
UYounger people are more likely to look at calories on food labels: 39 percent of people between 18 and 29 said they look at calories first. Even so, 60 percent of younger people were more likely to buy foods that are bad for them.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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