An interventional study of Nutrition Rating System - Traffic Light and Nutrition Rating System - Health Star in Diet Modification, Cardiovascular Diseases and Nutrition, sponsored by University of Toronto. Completed at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-10-04.
Sponsored by University of Toronto · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This is an online study that aims to test the effectiveness of Interpretative Nutrition Rating Systems (INRS) such as the Health Star Rating System (HSR or Star System), traffic light system and warning labels (high sodium, saturated fat and sugar) proposed by Health Canada. The study will incorporate the use of a Smartphone application (app), FoodFlip®, to help educate consumers on each INRS prior to their exposure on food packages.
Inclusion Criteria:
Participants in this group will be provided with a survey that shows the food and beverage packages with traffic light front of pack labels only. Intervention is the Nutrition Rating System - Traffic Light
Other: Nutrition Rating System - Traffic Light · Device: Smartphone application FoodFlip Device®
Participants in this group will be provided with a survey that shows the food and beverage packages with health star rating front of pack labels only. Intervention is the Nutrition Rating System - Health Star Rating
Other: Nutrition Rating System - Health Star · Device: Smartphone application FoodFlip Device®
Participants in this group will be provided with a survey that shows the food and beverage packages with warning front of pack labels only. Intervention is the Nutrition Rating System - Warning Labels
Other: Nutrition Rating System - Warning Label · Device: Smartphone application FoodFlip Device®
Participants in this group will be provided with a survey that shows the food and beverage packages without any front of pack labels.
Behavioural: Nutrition Rating Systems (shown on the online survey and the mobile app) provide consumers with an interpretation of the healthfulness of a food or beverage, by indicating the levels (low=green, moderate=amber, high=red) of sodium, saturated fat and sugar in a product based on modified Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) criteria.
Behavioural: Nutrition Rating Systems (shown on the online survey and the mobile app) provide consumers with an interpretation of the healthfulness of a food or beverage product by indicating the number of stars awarded to a product, from 0.5 to 5 stars, based on modified Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) nutrient profiling criteria.
Behavioural: Nutrition Rating Systems (shown on the online survey and the mobile app) provide consumers with an interpretation of the healthfulness of a food or beverage product by indicating with a warning label products that are "high" in sodium, saturated fat and sugar, based on a percent daily value (%DV) greater than 15% for individual products and 30% for combination dishes.
This is embedded within each condition to inform and educate consumers about the labelling condition/intervention to which they are randomized. All participants are assigned to an app task to view 20 products and see the 'rating' these products would get according to their condition.
Comprehension task - ability to identify healthy products (survey measure)
The participant's ability to identify the most healthy product in a group of 5 products in a task rating 5 products with varying levels of 'healthiness' according to modified FSANZ criteria. Question wording: Please rank these products in terms of healthiness where 1 is the"most healthy" and 5 is the "least healthy" cereal
Time frame: 1 day (assessed immediately after app task and while viewing products with labelling system applied
Comprehension task - ability to identify unhealthy products (survey measure)
The participant's ability to identify the least healthy product in a group of products in a group of 5 products in a task rating 5 products with varying levels of 'healthiness' according to modified FSANZ criteria. Question wording: Please rank these products in terms of healthiness where 1 is the"most healthy" and 5 is the "least healthy" cereal
Time frame: 1 day (assessed immediately after app task and while viewing products with labelling system applied
Comprehension task - ability to identify the overall 'healthiness' of a product (survey measure - Likert scale)
The participant's ability to accurately rate a product as more or less healthy according to the type and amount of nutritional information on the product, using a 7 point Likert scale. Question wording: How healthy is this (product) for you?
Time frame: 1 day (assessed immediately after app task and while viewing products with labelling system applied
Hypothetical purchasing of products (survey measure - Likert scale)
The participant's perceived likelihood of purchasing a product according to the type and amount of nutritional information on the product, using a 7 point Likert scale. Question wording: Assume this product has a cost similar to other (product category). If you were shopping for (product), how likely would you be to purchase this one?
Time frame: 1 day (assessed immediately after app task and while viewing products with labelling system applied
This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Toronto