People who are on diets are more likely to read and understand food labels than those who are not, a new study has found.

It looked at 255 people, 115 of whom were members of a slimming group. The remaining 140 people were not following any kind of diet. All were questioned about their food and shopping habits, their mood and their overall wellbeing.

The study found that those in the slimming group were significantly more likely to use food labels when grocery shopping. They also had better awareness of nutrition and felt more confident when it came to choosing healthier foods.

Not surprisingly perhaps, those who were satisfied with their weight tended to have higher levels of wellbeing.

"People who are trying to lose weight make much more effort to read the labels on food than other people do. Reading labels informs people about what is in their food and helps them to make decisions about what they will and won't eat.

"As a result, choosing not to eat unhealthy foods can help them to lose weight and this has an effect on their overall wellbeing," explained the study's author, Audrey Spencer, of Lancaster University.

She called for more education to help people understand what exactly they are eating.

"There still seems to be a lot of confusion about what constitutes a healthy diet and the different labelling in supermarkets adds to this. Greater priority should be given to education relating to healthy eating rather than having an over-reliance on food labelling by manufacturers and retailers. If people have a better understanding, they will make healthier choices," she added.

Her findings were presented at the recent annual conference of the British Psychological Society in Birmingham.