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NCT Number: NCT03761342

Evaluating the Relative Effectiveness of Two Front-of-pack Nutrition Labels

In efforts to promote a healthy diet, the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB) has attempted to use Front-of-Pack (FOP) labelling to supplement traditional nutrition labelling. The Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS) identifies food items within a specific category of foods as healthier choices. The original logos were enhanced to include additional information focusing on particular macronutrients, taking one of two themes; it either indicates that a product contains more of a healthier ingredient, or less of a less healthy ingredient.

However, there is a lack of scientific evidence on the role of the existing symbols in assisting consumers make healthier food purchasing decisions. Thus far, studies have established that the United Kingdom's Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL) label, and the new French Nutri-Score (NS) label, are amongst the top performers. However, there is little consensus on which is the most effective FOP label to promote diet quality. Thus, the investigators propose to conduct the following:

Use a three arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) and an experimental fully functional web-based grocery store to test two competing approaches of front-of-pack (FOP) labelling on measures of diet quality: 1) United Kingdom's Multiple Traffic Lights label (MTL) or 2) France's Nutri-Score (NS) labelling scheme.

The investigators hypothesize that diet quality as measured by the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010) (primary outcome) will be highest in the NS arm, followed by MTL, and lowest in the no logo control arm.

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Key information

Conditions

Diet Habit Behavior Behavior, Animal Diet Modification Feeding Behavior Food Preferences Food Selection Malnutrition Nutrition Disorders Nutrition Poor Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Age range

21 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Duke-NUS Medical School

Singapore, 169857

About this study

Research Aims & hypotheses:

To use a three arm randomized controlled trial (RCT), and an experimental online grocery store developed by the team, to test two competing approaches of front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling on measures of diet quality: 1) Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL) and 2) Nutri-Score (NS).

All participants will experience three different shopping conditions:

  • Arm 1: A control arm that mirrors a traditional web-grocery store with no HCS or other FOP labels.
  • Arm 2: Similar to Arm 1, with additional MTL labels displayed on all products FOP. A 60-second introductory video briefly explaining the MTL scheme will be shown before participants shop as they are assumed not to have pre-existing knowledge of the label.
  • Arm 3: Similar to Arm 2, with Nutri-Score labels instead of MTL labels displayed on all products FOP. As with the MTL, a 60-second introductory video briefly explaining the NS scheme will be shown before participants shop.

The investigators hypothesize the following:

Primary Aim: Diet quality as measured by Alternative Healthy Eating Index Scores (AHEI-2010) will be highest (best) in Arm 3, followed by Arms 2 and 1 (worst).

The investigators further hypothesize a similar ordering (Arm 3 best and Arm 1 worst) for the following secondary outcomes:

Total and per serving values of the following:

  • Energy (kCal)
  • Sugar (g)
  • Total fat (g)
  • Saturated fat (g)
  • Sodium (g)
  • Fiber (g)
  • Protein (g) And
  • Average Nutri-Score across all products purchased where A=5 and E=1, and
  • Cost per calorie and per shopping trip.

The investigators will test these hypotheses in total, and separately for foods and beverages given Singapore's focus on reducing intake of sugar-sweetened beverages. The investigators will also test whether the impact of FOP labelling is moderated by mood and level of hunger at the time of purchase, and by education or income level.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Singapore resident
  • Aged 21 years or older.
  • Existing registered RedMart customer.

Exclusion criteria

  • Non-Singapore Resident.
  • Less than 21 years old.
  • Not an existing registered RedMart customer.

Treatment and study plan

Multiple Traffic Light Label

Behavioral

The United Kingdom's Multiple Traffic Light label has repeatedly demonstrated effectiveness and has been widely implemented in Europe. The label shows how much calories, fats, saturated fats, sugar and salt are present in a product, with associated traffic light signals for high (red), medium (amber) and low (green) percentages for each attribute.

Nutri-Score Label

Behavioral

In late 2017, France began voluntary implementation of one FOP label, termed Nutri-Score, adapted from its predecessor, the 5-colour Nutrition Label. Consumer acceptability and understanding of the NS label has been demonstrated in several studies. It provides a letter score as a composite grade of a product's nutrition quality from A (best) to E (worst).

Primary outcomes

  1. Diet Quality per shopping trip

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Diet quality per shopping trip, as measured by an index of diet quality, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010). The Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010) is an updated measure of diet quality from the original Alternate Healthy Eating Index. It was constructed based on foods and nutrients predictive of chronic disease risk that incorporates current scientific evidence on diet and health. All AHEI-2010 components are scored from 0 (worst) to 10 (best), for a total of 11 components. The total AHEI-2010 score ranges from 0 (nonadherence) to 110 (perfect adherence). Higher scores on the AHEI-2010 are strongly associated with lower risk of major chronic disease as well as risk of CVD, diabetes, heart failure, colorectal and estrogen-receptor-negative breast cancer, and total and cardiovascular mortality.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Total Energy in kilocalories

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Total Energy (kCal)

  2. Total Sugar in grams

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Total Sugar (g)

  3. Total fat in grams

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Total Fat (g)

  4. Saturated fat in grams

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Saturated Fat (g)

  5. Sodium in milligrams

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Sodium (mg)

  6. Fiber in grams

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Fiber (g)

  7. Protein in grams

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Protein (g)

  8. Energy per serving in kilocalories per serving

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Energy per serving (kCal per serving)

  9. Sugar per serving in grams per serving

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Sugar per serving (g per serving)

  10. Total fat per serving in grams per serving

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Total fat per serving (g per serving)

  11. Saturated fat per serving in grams per serving

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Saturated fat per serving (g per serving)

  12. Sodium per serving in milligrams per serving

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Sodium per serving (mg per serving)

  13. Fiber per serving in grams per serving

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Fiber per serving (g per serving)

  14. Protein per serving in grams per serving

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Protein per serving (g per serving)

  15. Average Nutri-Score across all products purchased

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    The Nutri-Score label was developed by the Equipe de Recherche en Epidémiologie Nutritionnelle (EREN) research team based on the British Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling system, and presents the overall nutritional quality for each food and beverage on a five-point color-coded scale from A is green (best) to E in red (worst). Average Nutri-Score across all products purchased is recoded to a score of A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2 and E=1. Maximum possible score is 5 (all A) and the lowest possible score is 1 (all E). A higher score represents higher nutritional quality.

  16. Cost per calorie in dollars per kilocalorie

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Cost per calorie is calculated as total spend divided by total kilocalories ($ per kCal)

  17. Total spend in dollars

    Time frame: Once a week for three weeks

    Total spend ($)

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School

Other

Collaborators

  • National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore

Registry information

Official study title

Multiphase Evaluation of Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS) Logo: Aim 4. A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Relative Effectiveness of Two Front-of-pack Nutrition Labels

Acronym: NUSMart NM

Important dates

Study start
2018
Primary completion
2018
Study completion
2018
First posted
Dec 3, 2018
Registry last updated
Jan 3, 2019

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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