Claims and promotional strategies declared on front‐of‐pack processed and ultra‐processed products related with children and adolescent obesity in Costa Rica
Authors: Gamboa Tatiana , Blanco‐Metzler Adriana , Gómez‐Duarte Ingrid , Ramirez‐Zea Manuel , Kroker‐Lobos Maria F. 
Published: November 2023

Background

Obesity prevalence in children and adolescent population in Costa Rica is more than 20%. This population is vulnerable to persuasive marketing techniques contained on food packaging.

Objective

The aim of the study was to analyze the presence of claims and the promotional strategies included in front‐of‐pack processed and ultra‐processed products related with obesity in children and adolescents.

Methods

2642 products were analyzed. Information was obtained from pictures of packages from the 2015 the Program to Decrease Salt/Sodium Consumption in Costa Rica database. Food products were categorized in non‐alcoholic beverages, dairy sweetened beverages, muffins, cookies, snacks, breakfast cereals, cereal bars and confectionery. Nutritional and health claims; presence of promotional characters and premium offers were analyzed using standardized international methodology. Food products were stratified in two groups according with brand sales information based on Euromonitor International data for Costa Rica. First group represent the 50% of sales for each food category (lead brand), and the second was the rest of brands. A Chi square test (95%CI) was used to determine differences of claims and promotional strategies by brand sales group.

Results

92% of dairy sweetened beverages, 89% of cereal bars and 85% of breakfast cereals had at least one nutritional claim. These product categories declared most frequently the nutritional claims. Referring to health claims, 44% of dairy sweetened beverages and 32% of breakfast cereals had at least one health claim. Presence of promotional characters was more frequent in breakfast cereals (45%), snacks (43%) and dairy sweetened beverages (35%), and breakfast cereals presented more premium offers (17%).

Out of all products with at least one front‐of‐pack claim, the density of claims varies between food categories. The highest average of nutrition claims per product was found in breakfast cereals 2.8 ±1.6 and cookies 2,6 ±1,6; and the highest density of health claims was presented in breakfast cereals with 2,7 ±1,2, followed by dairy sweetened beverages 2,0 ±1,0.

The comparison of nutritional claims and promotional characters by brand sales groups showed that lead brans of non‐alcoholic beverages have more nutrient claims compared with the rest (p=0.000). Lead brands of breakfast cereals have more promotional characters than the rest of the food categories (p=0.017).

Conclusion

The use of nutritional claims and promotional strategies is widespread in all obesity‐related food products. Breakfast cereals and non‐alcoholic beverages showed a high frequency claims and promotional strategies, specially in lead brands. This data shows the need of front‐of‐pack labeling and promotion regulation in order to generate healthier food environments to prevent childhood obesity in Costa Rica.

Support or Funding Information

The research leading to these results has received funding from IDRC Grant Number 107213‐002. And the Program to Decrease Salt/Sodium Consumption in Costa Rica with the financial support of the Food, Environment and Health Program del IDRC (project # 106888‐001) facilitated the 2015 National Plan to Reduce Consumption of Salt/Sodium in Costa Rica database. The opinions expressed in this article are the authors' own and do not reflect the opinion of the IDRC o their board of governors (Memorandum of Grant Conditions IDRC‐FUNDEVI from project # 106888‐001, Feb 14, 2012).