{"id":6022,"date":"2022-02-11T09:38:44","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T14:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalfoodresearchprogram.org\/?p=6022"},"modified":"2025-03-23T14:13:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T18:13:21","slug":"nutrient-warnings-outperform-other-labels-among-colombian-adults-results-from-a-randomized-controlled-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalfoodresearchprogram.org\/nutrient-warnings-outperform-other-labels-among-colombian-adults-results-from-a-randomized-controlled-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Nutrient warnings outperform other labels among Colombian adults: Results from a randomized controlled trial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A study published today in PLOS ONE<\/em><\/a><\/strong> found that for Colombian adults, nutrient warning labels work better than two other common front-of-package (FOP) label types for discouraging consumption of ultra-processed foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experiment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at Universidad Nacional de Colombia<\/em>, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana<\/em>, and UNC-Chapel Hill conducted a study involving over 8,000 Colombian adults. In this experiment, each participant was randomly assigned to one of four FOP label conditions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. An octagonal, stop sign nutrient warning label (below, left<\/em>); <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. the industry-preferred voluntary Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) label (below, center<\/em>);<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. A color-coded Nutri-Score label used voluntarily in a handful of European countries (below, right<\/em>); or <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. No FOP label (control condition).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"Black
    Study label conditions, from left: Warning label, Guideline Daily Amounts label, and Nutri-Score label.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Participants were asked to compare two fruit drinks with labels from their assigned group. One of the fruit drinks was healthier (contained naturally occurring and no added sugar), and one of the fruit drinks was less healthy (contained 39.4 grams of sugar and included added sugar). They were asked to pick the healthier product, choose which drink they thought was higher in sugar, and indicate which one they would rather buy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Next, participants answered questions about other products (yogurt, cookies, sliced bread, and breakfast cereal) to see if they could correctly pick which ones were high in a nutrient of concern (e.g., sugar, saturated fat) and whether FOP labels discouraged them from wanting to consume the product. Finally, participants viewed all three label types and picked which one would discourage them most from wanting to consume the product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Findings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Of the FOP label types tested, nutrient warning labels were most effective in each of these outcomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n