NCT06293963

Front-of-package Label Effects in Latine and Limited English Proficiency Populations

Centering Equity in FDA Regulation: Front-of-package Food Label Effects in Latine and Limited English Proficiency Populations

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 3,306 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 55 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this experiment is to examine the effects of 4 types of front-of-package food labels among a sample of Latino adults. The main questions this experiment aims to answer are: What front-of-package label design is most effective in helping Latino and low English proficiency consumers identify healthier and less healthy food products? What front-of-package label design is most effective in helping Latino and low English proficiency consumers choose healthier food products? Additionally, this experiment also aims to answer the following question: Do the benefits of front-of-package label designs differ by English proficiency and parental status? Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 4 types of front-of-package label designs and view their assigned label design on 3 sets of products. Each set will display 3 similar products, each high in either 1, 2, or 3 nutrients of concern. For each set, participants will select the product that they believe to be the healthiest, least healthy, and the product that they would most want to consume. Researchers will compare results across label designs.

Detailed description

This study aims to determine which front-of-package label design is most effective at helping Latino consumers identify and choose healthier products, as well as explore whether the benefits of different front-of-package label designs differ by English proficiency. A Latino-focused panel company will recruit 4,000 US Latino adults of parental age (18-55 years), approximately 50% of whom will have limited English proficiency. In a between-subjects experiment, researchers will randomize participants to 1 of 4 types of front-of-package label designs: a numerical label, an interpretive text-only label, an interpretive label with a magnifying glass icon, or separated interpretive labels with a magnifying glass icon. Participants will view their assigned label design on 3 similar products (each product high in either 1, 2, or 3 nutrients of concern) and complete selection tasks. These tasks will be repeated 3 times, each time with a different type of product (i.e., frozen meals, frozen pizzas, and frozen desserts), with the products displayed in random order.

Conditions

• Diet, Healthy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Guideline Daily Amounts label	Labels that list the amount and percent of daily value of added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat, modeled after Guideline Daily Amounts labels.
BEHAVIORAL	Interpretive text-only label	Interpretive text-only labels that state when a product contains high amounts of added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat.
BEHAVIORAL	Interpretive magnifying glass icon label	Interpretive labels that state when a product contains high amounts of added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat, containing a magnifying glass icon.
BEHAVIORAL	Separated interpretive magnifying glass icon label	Interpretive labels that state when a product contains high amounts of added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat, containing a magnifying glass icon. Each nutrient will be on a separate label.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-08-09
• Primary completion: 2024-09-11
• Completion: 2024-09-11
• First posted: 2024-03-05
• Last updated: 2025-04-24

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States