The report, Experimental Study of Health Claims on Food Packages, is available on the federal agency's website and was designed to assess whether consumers are able to identify the nutrient responsible for a claimed benefit or identify whether there are many food sources from which they can get the nutrient.

The initial conclusions of the date reveal there is little difference in how likely respondents are to recognize the difference between a nutrient mentioned in a food-specific health claim, a structure-function claim or a dietary guidance.

The initial finding that health claim distinctions are not necessarily picked up on by consumers is of relevance to marketers because of the wealth of research and development that goes behind such claims.

To date, the FDA has issued scant numbers of health claims - veritable stamps of approval from the agency that can generate greater sales if they inspire consumer confidence. The road to getting a health claim is lengthy and not guaranteed to work or even to be useful. Not only does the FDA require an overwhelming body of evidence in favor of a healthy ingredient, but it can issue heavily worded health claims that manufacturers may not end up using for fear of confusing consumers.

"We were particularly interested in determining if consumers are still able to identify the nutrient responsible for the claimed benefit, and recognize that there are many food sources from which they can obtain the nutrient," states FDA in the preliminary findings published on its website.

The best identified nutrients, according to FDA, were calcium and potassium.

The research was outsourced to Synovate and drew from a sample of 9,000 people weighted to the distribution of US household heads according to gender, education, age, and ethnicity or race.

A total of 1,593 took part from the initial pool of 9,000 invitees completed Phase 1 of the survey, and, of these, 1,077 participated ten days later in Phase 2.

Participants were shown 18 front-panel label examples. The information obtained is designed to enhance FDA's understanding of consumer responses to health claims and informs policy initiatives rather than indicate imminent changes.

"We emphasize that the inclusion of examples of health claims and other health messages in this study does not in any way suggest or imply any new or impending change in regulatory actions regarding these messages," wrote FDA.

The findings indicate respondents did have a basic understand of nutrition.

"Among the three foods examined, yogurt and orange juice are considered more healthful than pasta," states the findings. Two thirds indicated a link between reducing the risk of osteoporosis and the health benefit of yogurt.

FDA has indicated that these findings are not meant to be conclusive and that further elaborations on the findings will follow.

"The research was intended to help reveal causal relationships between health claims and other health messages and consumer responses, rather than to assess population-wide prevalence or distributions of consumer responses," wrote FDA.