NEW YORK — Nearly half of all consumers are paying more attention to calorie counts than they did two years ago, and 25% are buying more low- or zero-calorie products than they did a year ago, according to the 18th annual Shopping for Health survey to be released this week by Food Marketing Institute and Prevention magazine here.

But despite the added attention on calorie counts, consumers still need help understanding how many calories they consume in an average day, the survey revealed. Consumers typically underestimate the calorie content of their meals, with most mistakenly believing they consume the daily recommended amount of calories, the survey said. Only 9% of consumers actively count the calories they consume, while 50% “just watch their calories.” Forty-one percent don’t track their calories at all.

Shoppers are also increasingly turning to their smart phones to create shopping lists and make healthy eating easier. Shoppers said they see such “apps” as appealing for creating a shopping list (33%), learning about sales and specials (28%) and choosing healthy items while shopping (25%).

The report was based on a national online survey of more than 1,423 adult shoppers by Harris Interactive in December 2009. Full results are published in the June issue of Prevention magazine.

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