NCT06516627

Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels

Online Randomized Experiment Evaluating Front-of-Package Nutrition Labeling Systems

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 5,638 (actual)
• Sponsor: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this study is to determine whether certain front-of-package food labeling systems improve the healthfulness of consumers' grocery selections. US adults who are their households' primary shoppers will complete a shopping task in a naturalistic online grocery store. They will be exposed to different front-of-package food labeling systems and asked to shop for groceries. The online store will record participants' selections. Participants will also be asked to complete survey measures.

Detailed description

This study aims to determine whether certain front-of-package food labeling systems improve the healthfulness of consumers' grocery selections. The survey research company Cloud Research will recruit a sample of approximately 5,610 US adults ages 18+ who read and speak English and who are their households' primary grocery shopper. Participants will complete a between-subjects online randomized experiment. They will be randomized to 1 of 6 front-of-package labeling systems: 1) positive labels, 2) spectrum labels, 3) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) high in labels, 4) FDA traffic light labels, 5) FDA high in labels plus positive labels, or 6) FDA traffic light labels plus positive labels. Participants will complete a shopping task in a naturalistic online grocery store. Participants will be instructed to shop as they usually would for items in the following categories: non-alcoholic beverages (e.g., juice, coffee, tea, soda, sports drinks, water), breads and baked goods, breakfast cereals, soups, boxed and frozen meals, and snacks (e.g., chips, crackers, nuts, applesauce, dried fruit). They will be given a budget based on average spending in these categories in a large supermarket chain. The store will record participants' selections. After completing the shopping task, participants will complete an online survey.

Conditions

• Nutrition
• Food Selection
• Food Preferences
• Dietary Habits
• Healthy Diet

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Positive Labels	Products that meet Guiding Stars' criteria for earning 1 or more Guiding Star will display labels indicating their healthfulness using star ratings: 1 star ("Good"), 2 stars ("Better"), or 3 stars ("Best").
BEHAVIORAL	Spectrum Labels	All products will display an expanded Guiding Stars label that show an overall rating indicating their healthfulness using star ratings: 1 star ("Poor"), 2 stars ("Fair"), 3 stars ("Good"), 4 stars ("Better"), or 5 stars ("Best").
BEHAVIORAL	FDA High In Labels	Products that contain high levels (i.e., ≥20% DV per serving) of saturated fat, sodium, or added sugars will display a label indicating which of these nutrients the product is high in.
BEHAVIORAL	FDA Traffic Light Labels	All products will display a "Nutrition Info" label showing whether the amount of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars in 1 serving of the product is low (\<5% DV), medium (≥5 to \<20% DV), or high (≥20% DV). "Low" will be shown in green, "Medium" in yellow, and "High" in red.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-10-31
• Primary completion: 2024-11-21
• Completion: 2024-11-21
• First posted: 2024-07-24
• Last updated: 2024-12-16

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States