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Accepted manuscript

Effects of front-of-package nutrition labelling systems on objective understanding and purchase intention in Panama: results from a multi-arm parallel-group randomised controlled trial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2024

Fabio da Silva Gomes Open the ORCID record for Fabio da Silva Gomes [Opens in a new window] ,
Israel Ríos-Castillo ,
Leon Ramon Leal Correa ,
Bethy Cruzado ,
Gastón Ares ,
Carlos Felipe Urquizar Rojas ,
Elka González-Madden  and
Jorge Victoria
Fabio da Silva Gomes*
Affiliation:
Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), Washington D.C., U.S.A
Israel Ríos-Castillo
Affiliation:
Food and Agriculture Organization for the United Nations, Subregional Office for Mesoamerica, Panama City, Panama
Leon Ramon Leal Correa
Affiliation:
Fundación Movimiento de Alimentación Saludable, Panama City, Panama
Bethy Cruzado
Affiliation:
Fundación Movimiento de Alimentación Saludable, Panama City, Panama
Gastón Ares
Affiliation:
Instituto Polo Tecnológico de Pando, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Pando, Uruguay Centro de Investigación Básica en Psicología (CIBPsi), Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
Carlos Felipe Urquizar Rojas
Affiliation:
Department of Design, University of Joinville Region, Joinville, Brazil and Laboratory of Information Design Systems (LabDSI), Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
Elka González-Madden
Affiliation:
Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), Panama City, Panama
Jorge Victoria
Affiliation:
Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), Panama City, Panama
*
Correspondence to: Fabio da Silva Gomes. E-mail: gomesfabio@paho.org. Mailing address: 525 23rd St. NW, Washington D.C., USA, 20037. Tel: +1 (202) 974-3695.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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Objective:

To assess the effect of different front-of-package (FOPL) schemes on the objective understanding of the nutritional content and intention to purchase products, in Panama.

Design:

Single-blinded multi-arm parallel-group randomised controlled trial.

Setting:

Supermarkets across Panama. Participants were exposed to two-dimensional images of 15 mock-up products presented at random and balanced orders. Participants assigned to the intervention groups were exposed to mock-ups featuring one FOPL scheme: black octagonal warning labels (OWL), traffic-light labelling (TFL), or guideline daily amounts (GDA). Control group was not exposed to any FOPL scheme.

Participants:

Adult supermarket shoppers (n=1200). Participants were blinded to group assignment.

Results:

Similar number of participants were randomised to and analysed in each group: OWL (n=300), TFL (n=300), GDA (n=300), and control (n=300). The odds for choosing to purchase the least harmful or none of the options more often was the highest in the OWL group. Compared to the control group, two times higher in the OWL group (OR 2·13, 95% confidence interval 1·60-2·84), and 57% higher in the TFL (1·57, 1·40-2·56), with no changes in the GDA (0·97, 0·73-1·29). OWL also resulted in the highest odds for correctly identifying the least harmful option, and for correctly identifying a product with excessive amounts of sugars, sodium and/or saturated fats.

Conclusions:

OWL performed best in helping shoppers to correctly identify when a product contained excessive amounts of nutrients of concern, to correctly identify the least harmful option, and to decide to purchase the least harmful or none of the options, more often.

Keywords

food labellingnutrition labellingnutrition policiesfood policiespublic health
Type
Research Paper
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Accepted manuscript , pp. 1 - 22
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Authors 2024