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Traffic light labelling could prevent mortality from noncommunicable diseases in Canada: A scenario modelling study

BACKGROUND: Traffic-light labelling (TLL) is a promising front-of-pack system to help consumers make informed dietary choices. It has been shown that adopting TLL in Canada, through an optimistic scenario of avoiding, if possible, foods with red traffic lights, could effectively reduce Canadians’ in...

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Autores principales: Labonté, Marie-Eve, Emrich, Teri E., Scarborough, Peter, Rayner, Mike, L’Abbé, Mary R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6934336/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31881069
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226975
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author Labonté, Marie-Eve
Emrich, Teri E.
Scarborough, Peter
Rayner, Mike
L’Abbé, Mary R.
author_facet Labonté, Marie-Eve
Emrich, Teri E.
Scarborough, Peter
Rayner, Mike
L’Abbé, Mary R.
author_sort Labonté, Marie-Eve
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Traffic-light labelling (TLL) is a promising front-of-pack system to help consumers make informed dietary choices. It has been shown that adopting TLL in Canada, through an optimistic scenario of avoiding, if possible, foods with red traffic lights, could effectively reduce Canadians’ intakes of energy, total fat, saturated fat, and sodium by 5%, 13%, 14% and 6%, respectively. However, the potential health impact of adopting TLL has not been determined in the North American context. OBJECTIVE: This study modelled the potential impact of adopting TLL on mortality from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Canada, due to the previously predicted improved nutrient intakes. METHODS: Investigators used data from adults (n = 19,915) in the 2004 nationally representative Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)-Cycle 2.2. Nutrient amounts in foods consumed by CCHS respondents were profiled using the 2013 United Kingdom’s TLL criteria. Whenever possible, foods assigned at least one red light (non-compliant foods) were replaced with similar, but compliant, foods identified from a Canadian brand-specific food database. Respondents’ nutrient intakes were calculated under the original CCHS scenario and the counterfactual TLL scenario, and entered in the Preventable Risk Integrated ModEl (PRIME) to estimate the health impact of adopting TLL. The primary outcome was the number of deaths attributable to diet-related NCDs that could be averted or delayed based on the TLL scenario compared with the baseline scenario. RESULTS: PRIME estimated that 11,715 deaths (95% CI 10,500–12,865) per year due to diet-related NCDs, among which 72% are specifically related to cardiovascular diseases, could be prevented if Canadians avoided foods labelled with red traffic lights. The reduction in energy intakes would by itself save 10,490 deaths (9,312–11,592; 90%). CONCLUSIONS: This study, although depicting an idealistic scenario, suggests that TLL (if used to avoid red lights when possible) could be an effective population-wide intervention to improve NCD outcomes in Canada.
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spelling pubmed-69343362020-01-07 Traffic light labelling could prevent mortality from noncommunicable diseases in Canada: A scenario modelling study Labonté, Marie-Eve Emrich, Teri E. Scarborough, Peter Rayner, Mike L’Abbé, Mary R. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Traffic-light labelling (TLL) is a promising front-of-pack system to help consumers make informed dietary choices. It has been shown that adopting TLL in Canada, through an optimistic scenario of avoiding, if possible, foods with red traffic lights, could effectively reduce Canadians’ intakes of energy, total fat, saturated fat, and sodium by 5%, 13%, 14% and 6%, respectively. However, the potential health impact of adopting TLL has not been determined in the North American context. OBJECTIVE: This study modelled the potential impact of adopting TLL on mortality from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Canada, due to the previously predicted improved nutrient intakes. METHODS: Investigators used data from adults (n = 19,915) in the 2004 nationally representative Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)-Cycle 2.2. Nutrient amounts in foods consumed by CCHS respondents were profiled using the 2013 United Kingdom’s TLL criteria. Whenever possible, foods assigned at least one red light (non-compliant foods) were replaced with similar, but compliant, foods identified from a Canadian brand-specific food database. Respondents’ nutrient intakes were calculated under the original CCHS scenario and the counterfactual TLL scenario, and entered in the Preventable Risk Integrated ModEl (PRIME) to estimate the health impact of adopting TLL. The primary outcome was the number of deaths attributable to diet-related NCDs that could be averted or delayed based on the TLL scenario compared with the baseline scenario. RESULTS: PRIME estimated that 11,715 deaths (95% CI 10,500–12,865) per year due to diet-related NCDs, among which 72% are specifically related to cardiovascular diseases, could be prevented if Canadians avoided foods labelled with red traffic lights. The reduction in energy intakes would by itself save 10,490 deaths (9,312–11,592; 90%). CONCLUSIONS: This study, although depicting an idealistic scenario, suggests that TLL (if used to avoid red lights when possible) could be an effective population-wide intervention to improve NCD outcomes in Canada. Public Library of Science 2019-12-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6934336/ /pubmed/31881069 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226975 Text en © 2019 Labonté et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Labonté, Marie-Eve
Emrich, Teri E.
Scarborough, Peter
Rayner, Mike
L’Abbé, Mary R.
Traffic light labelling could prevent mortality from noncommunicable diseases in Canada: A scenario modelling study
title Traffic light labelling could prevent mortality from noncommunicable diseases in Canada: A scenario modelling study
title_full Traffic light labelling could prevent mortality from noncommunicable diseases in Canada: A scenario modelling study
title_fullStr Traffic light labelling could prevent mortality from noncommunicable diseases in Canada: A scenario modelling study
title_full_unstemmed Traffic light labelling could prevent mortality from noncommunicable diseases in Canada: A scenario modelling study
title_short Traffic light labelling could prevent mortality from noncommunicable diseases in Canada: A scenario modelling study
title_sort traffic light labelling could prevent mortality from noncommunicable diseases in canada: a scenario modelling study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6934336/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31881069
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226975
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