According to a new Nielsen study on food labeling and healthy eating, 59 percent of consumers around the world have difficulty understanding nutritional labels on food packaging and more than half (53%) consider themselves overweight.

For years, retailers, manufacturers and marketers have been clamoring for a single benchmark that would facilitate comparisons of healthy eating patterns by key regions and time periods.

U.S. retailers continue to make progress in offering store brand products with health claims relevant to shoppers looking for healthier food choices

One common misconception heard frequently is that healthy eating has become too expensive—that the struggling economy has driven U.S. families to make poor nutritional choices.

It’s the economy! Organics enjoyed stratospheric growth in four of the last five years, but the economic crunch took a bite out of that trajectory in 2009.

Consumers in the U.S. might be trimming the fat from their budgets and diets, but contrary to predictions, they continue to demonstrate a healthy appetite for foods featuring health and wellness claims.