An interventional study of Increased proportion of lower energy density items and Labelling in Diet, Healthy and Food Selection, sponsored by University of Liverpool. Completed at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-11-03.
Sponsored by University of Liverpool · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This study will be a 2x2 randomised controlled trial with information-based intervention (no labelling / labelling) and structural intervention (default proportion / increased proportion of lower energy density food items) as between-subject factors and energy density (kcal/g) of food purchases during an online supermarket-shopping task as dependent variable. This study will use an online supermarket platform developed to mimic an online supermarket website and participants will be asked to complete a shopping task using a pre-determined shopping list of 10 items.
See attached protocol documents.
University of Liverpool is the lead sponsor of 99 studies on the registry; 10 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
No intervention: Default proportion condition (33% lower energy density items - 67% higher energy density items). Lower energy density items will be defined as lower ED ≤ median of ED distribution within a food category. No labelling.
When energy density of a food item ≤ median of energy density distribution within a food category, "healthier choice" badges will be added to the food item pictures on the online supermarket. Instructions will introduce the badges to the participants as "In the online supermarket, the green tick allows you to see which products (e.g. muesli) in each product category (e.g. cereals) are healthier choices with fewer calories per gram than most other products in the same category."
Behavioral: Labelling
The proportion of lower energy density items vs. higher energy density items will be reversed (67% lower - 33% higher) relative to the default proportion condition (33% lower - 67% higher). Lower energy density items will be defined as lower ED ≤ median of ED distribution within a food category.
Behavioral: Increased proportion of lower energy density items
The proportion of lower energy density items vs. higher energy density items will be reversed (67% lower - 33% higher) relative to the default proportion condition (33% lower - 67% higher). Lower energy density items will be defined as lower ED ≤ median of ED distribution within a food category. When energy density of a food item ≤ median of energy density distribution within a food category, "healthier choice" badges will be added to the food item pictures on the online supermarket. Instructions will introduce the badges to the participants as "In the online supermarket, the green tick allows you to see which products (e.g. muesli) in each product category (e.g. cereals) are healthier choices with fewer calories per gram than most other products in the same category."
Behavioral: Increased proportion of lower energy density items · Behavioral: Labelling
The proportion of lower energy density vs. higher energy density items will be reversed (67% lower - 33% higher) relative to the default proportion condition (D and DL) (33% lower - 67% higher). Lower energy density items will be defined as lower energy density ≤ median of energy density distribution within a food category.
When energy density of an item ≤ median of ED distribution within a food category, "healthier choice" badges will be added to the food item pictures on the online supermarket. Instructions when logging-into the platform will introduce the badges to the participants: "In the online supermarket, the green tick allows you to see which products (e.g. muesli) in each product category (e.g. cereals) are healthier choices with fewer calories per gram than most other products in the same category."
Mean ED of the food items purchased (kcal/100g)
Calculated as the sum of the energy of the purchased items (kcal) divided by the sum of their weight (g) and multiplied by 100.
Time frame: 20 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food shopping task online and there is no follow up)
Total energy of the food items purchased (kcal)
Calculated as the sum of the energy of the purchased items (kcal)
Time frame: 20 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food shopping task online and there is no follow up)
Energy from total sugar (% of total energy)
Calculated as the percentage of total energy of the purchased items from total sugar
Time frame: 20 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food shopping task online and there is no follow up)
Energy from saturated fatty acids (SFA) (% of total energy)
Calculated as the percentage of total energy of the purchased items from SFA
Time frame: 20 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food shopping task online and there is no follow up)
Salt content (g/100g)
Calculated as the sum of the salt content of the purchased items (g) divided by the sum of their weight (g) and multiplied by 100.
Time frame: 20 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food shopping task online and there is no follow up)
Proportion of lower energy density food items in the basket of foods purchased
Lower energy density items will be defined as ≤ median of energy density distribution within a food category
Time frame: 20 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food shopping task online and there is no follow up)
Cost (GPB)
Calculated as the sum of the prices of the purchased items
Time frame: 20 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food shopping task online and there is no follow up)
Validity
Mean of item "I would normally buy \[the 10 items on the shopping list\]" for all the food items coded as: 1 = Never; 2 = Very rarely; 3 = Rarely; 4 = Occasionally; 5 = Frequently; 6 = Very frequently.
Time frame: 5 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to fill in the debriefing questionnaire and there is no follow up)
Kcal influence
Answer to the item "The choices I made during online shopping were influenced by how many calories I thought were in the options available." coded as: 1 = Strongly disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Slightly disagree; 4 = Neutral; 5 = Slightly agree; 6 = Agree; 7 = Strongly agree
Time frame: 5 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to fill in the debriefing questionnaire and there is no follow up)
Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.
Plan to share: Yes — Shared on the Open Science Framework
Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Icf
This study is completed, as verified in Nov 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Liverpool