A new initiative to get people to eat healthy has been introduced to the Island's grocery stores.

The Food Label Literacy Campaign aims to educate the public on how to interpret food labels .

Guides developed as part of the campaign will be displayed on supermarket trolleys so customers will be able to recognise and buy healthy food.

The guide resembles a traffic light. Using red, yellow and green as visuals, it informs shoppers what amounts of fat, sugar and salt per serving make a food product a great choice, an okay choice or a bad choice.

The initiative comes on the eve of Diabetes Awareness Month, which starts tomorrow.

Lindo's shopper Teresa Gray-Swan welcomed the idea, explaining the labels on packaged items can be tricky to read and that her family's eating habits had to change to improve her husband's health following a heart attack.

"I think it's a lovely idea because I had to be educated on this because my husband had a heart attack," she said.

"When you look at (the Island) overall, we have so many people who are so unhealthy."

The initiative was developed by the Well Bermuda Strategy Partnership, an organisation which includes the Bermuda Diabetes Association, the Cardiac Unit of the Bermuda Hospitals Board, the Bermuda Heart Foundation and the Bermuda Dietitians Association.

Government Public Health Nutritionist, Mellonie Furbert said: "We realised that diabetes, heart disease, cancer and overweight concerns all Bermuda, and for people who just want to eat well, we wanted to offer something that was simple and easy to follow.

"We had to tailor it for produce from the United States, Canada and the UK. There are foods in every category – even in the junk food category – that you can choose.

She said that the guide allows the customer to easily make decisions about what they are purchasing, and how the item might meet their personal needs.

"It's totally easy to figure out numbers that were taught to you. This is a really quick reminder. While some things may seem really good for you, now you have good criteria to check with. You don't have to ask a dietitian or remember to bring your notes. Here's your mini-dietitian," she added.

Ms Furbert also suggested that families plan their menus for the week so they know which foods they need to buy for that period.

By also noting portion sizes, she said families will also know how much they need to buy, and avoid wasting food by overbuying. Health Department programme coordinator Jennifer Attride-Stirling said: "This initiative was developed as part of the Healthy Weight Action Plan of the Well Bermuda Strategy.

"It is another activity to help combat overweight and obesity in our community, which is dangerously high and presents major risks to health.

"In this case we're trying to improve the population's eating habits by helping people make sense of food labels. We're extremely grateful to the supermarkets who have agreed to display the food label guides, and are confident that the public will find them useful.

"Around 60 percent of people say they read food labels when they grocery shop; our traffic light guides will ensure that they have the tools to know how to determine if the levels of salt, sugar and fat in a product are healthy or not.

"Armed with this knowledge, we believe discerning shoppers will more readily choose foods in the green, or okay, range. Alongside our other initiatives to combat obesity, this will help to halt the rise in the incidence of obesity, which will help reduce chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease."

Minister of Health Nelson Bascome said: "Our plan to tackle obesity is two-pronged; first it aims to improve eating habits and second, to increase physical activity. As we know, 64 percent of Bermuda's population is overweight or obese, and this presents major risks to health.

"The associated consequences of obesity include increased risk of Type Two Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke and even premature death.

"Unfortunately, 13 percent of Bermuda's adult population lives with diabetes and 25 percent have high blood pressure. As a community we have to rally together to reverse this situation."

He added: "The good news is that Bermuda is getting the message.

"More and more people are coming to understand the importance of healthy diet and physical activity, and we want to continue that trend until we see a reversal in the obesity figures.

"I think everyone will find the food label guides incredibly helpful as they provide simple, user-friendly guidance on interpreting food labels — we'll all become food label literate."