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Efficacy of “High in” Nutrient Specific Front of Package Labels—A Retail Experiment with Canadians of Varying Health Literacy Levels

Background: In 2018, Health Canada, the Federal department responsible for public health, put forward a regulatory proposal to introduce regulations requiring a “High in” front-of-package label (FOPL) on foods that exceed predetermined thresholds for sodium, sugars, or saturated fat. This study eval...

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Autores principales: Mansfield, Elizabeth D., Ibanez, Dominique, Chen, Fuqi, Chen, Emily, de Grandpré, Elaine
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7590840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33092033
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12103199
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author Mansfield, Elizabeth D.
Ibanez, Dominique
Chen, Fuqi
Chen, Emily
de Grandpré, Elaine
author_facet Mansfield, Elizabeth D.
Ibanez, Dominique
Chen, Fuqi
Chen, Emily
de Grandpré, Elaine
author_sort Mansfield, Elizabeth D.
collection PubMed
description Background: In 2018, Health Canada, the Federal department responsible for public health, put forward a regulatory proposal to introduce regulations requiring a “High in” front-of-package label (FOPL) on foods that exceed predetermined thresholds for sodium, sugars, or saturated fat. This study evaluated the efficacy of the proposed FOPL as a quick and easy tool for making food choices that support reduction in the intakes of these nutrients. Methods: Consumers (n = 625) of varying health literacy levels (HL) were assigned to control (current labeling with no FOPL) or one of four FOPL designs. They completed six shopping tasks, designed to control for internal motivations. Efficacy was measured with correct product selection and response time (seconds) to make food choices using repeated measures statistical modeling, adjusting for HL, task type, and task order. Eye-tracking and structured interviews were used to gather additional insights about participants’ choices. Results: Overall, FOPL was significantly more effective than current labeling at helping consumers of varying HL levels to identify foods high in nutrients of concern and make healthier food choices. All FOPL were equally effective. Conclusions: “High in” FOPL can be effective at helping Canadians of varying HL levels make more informed food choices in relation to sugars, sodium, and saturated fat.
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spelling pubmed-75908402020-10-29 Efficacy of “High in” Nutrient Specific Front of Package Labels—A Retail Experiment with Canadians of Varying Health Literacy Levels Mansfield, Elizabeth D. Ibanez, Dominique Chen, Fuqi Chen, Emily de Grandpré, Elaine Nutrients Article Background: In 2018, Health Canada, the Federal department responsible for public health, put forward a regulatory proposal to introduce regulations requiring a “High in” front-of-package label (FOPL) on foods that exceed predetermined thresholds for sodium, sugars, or saturated fat. This study evaluated the efficacy of the proposed FOPL as a quick and easy tool for making food choices that support reduction in the intakes of these nutrients. Methods: Consumers (n = 625) of varying health literacy levels (HL) were assigned to control (current labeling with no FOPL) or one of four FOPL designs. They completed six shopping tasks, designed to control for internal motivations. Efficacy was measured with correct product selection and response time (seconds) to make food choices using repeated measures statistical modeling, adjusting for HL, task type, and task order. Eye-tracking and structured interviews were used to gather additional insights about participants’ choices. Results: Overall, FOPL was significantly more effective than current labeling at helping consumers of varying HL levels to identify foods high in nutrients of concern and make healthier food choices. All FOPL were equally effective. Conclusions: “High in” FOPL can be effective at helping Canadians of varying HL levels make more informed food choices in relation to sugars, sodium, and saturated fat. MDPI 2020-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC7590840/ /pubmed/33092033 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12103199 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Mansfield, Elizabeth D.
Ibanez, Dominique
Chen, Fuqi
Chen, Emily
de Grandpré, Elaine
Efficacy of “High in” Nutrient Specific Front of Package Labels—A Retail Experiment with Canadians of Varying Health Literacy Levels
title Efficacy of “High in” Nutrient Specific Front of Package Labels—A Retail Experiment with Canadians of Varying Health Literacy Levels
title_full Efficacy of “High in” Nutrient Specific Front of Package Labels—A Retail Experiment with Canadians of Varying Health Literacy Levels
title_fullStr Efficacy of “High in” Nutrient Specific Front of Package Labels—A Retail Experiment with Canadians of Varying Health Literacy Levels
title_full_unstemmed Efficacy of “High in” Nutrient Specific Front of Package Labels—A Retail Experiment with Canadians of Varying Health Literacy Levels
title_short Efficacy of “High in” Nutrient Specific Front of Package Labels—A Retail Experiment with Canadians of Varying Health Literacy Levels
title_sort efficacy of “high in” nutrient specific front of package labels—a retail experiment with canadians of varying health literacy levels
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7590840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33092033
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12103199
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