Impact of Nutrition Labels on Consumer Purchasing Intentions

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this interventional study is to compare the impact of four different Front-Of-Pack (FOP) nutrition labels on purchasing intentions. This study is nested in the ongoing web-based prospective observational NutriNet-Santé cohort study, including on December 2014 around 150,000 participants. The investigators will perform a five-arm randomized trial where participants will be subjected to different FOP nutrition label formats: Guidelines Daily Amount (GDA), Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL), 5-Color Nutrition Label (5-CNL), Green Tick (Tick) and a 'no label' condition. The impact of front-of-pack nutrition labels on the nutritional quality of the shopping cart will be assessed. Participants from the NutriNet-Santé cohort study will be randomly assigned to one of these five experimental conditions according to their sociodemographic characteristics. Purchasing intentions will be assessed using an experimental web-based supermarket designed to look like a regular online grocery store. The supermarket includes 269 unique products divided into 4 categories: dairy products, processed meat/delicatessen, savory and breakfast/sugary products. Each category is then separated into specific products families like yogurt, milk, cheese, etc. for the dairy products category. Inside a food family, the selection of foodstuffs will be made to obtain a representative sample of the products commonly sold in French supermarket. For each type of products, at least two variants are proposed. Products are retailers or manufacturers branded. Categories of products that are not usually bought each week, or which are likely to be bought from different sources are not included on the web-based supermarket. Participants are asked to simulate a shopping situation: they have to select a week worth of food for their family among proposed products. If the user is not able to find a product he/she usually buy, the instruction is to select similar product among proposed ones. Information provided for each product is: name, price and the picture with the FOP label/or not according to the experimental condition to which the participant is allocated. A brief explanation of the FOP label used is also given.

Official Title
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Impact of Different Front-of-pack Nutrition Labels on Consumer Purchasing Intentions: Randomized Trial in the NutriNet-Santé Study

Conditions
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Choice Behavior, Food Labeling

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: 5-CNL
* Behavioral: MTL
* Behavioral: GDA
* Behavioral: Tick


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Being a participant of the NutriNet-Santé cohort study Completing the preliminary questionnaire about nutrition knowledge and purchasing habits Completing online shopping in the experimental supermarket Exclusion Criteria: Not going shopping usually Having a difference greater than 400€ between the price of their shopping cart versus their usual weekly shopping cart budget Having aberrant body mass index (i.e. >55 or <11 for women and <13 for men)

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Screening
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: 5-Color Nutrition Label (5-CNL)<br>The 5-CNL front-of-pack nutrition labeling is affixed on the front-of-pack of foodstuffs of the experimental web-based supermarket | Behavioral: 5-CNL<br>* The 5-CNL front-of-pack nutrition label is introduced on foodstuffs in a controlled shopping environment<br>|
| Experimental: Mutiple Traffic Lights (MTL)<br>The MTL front-of-pack nutrition labeling is affixed on the front-of-pack of foodstuffs of the experimental web-based supermarket | Behavioral: MTL<br>* The MTL front-of-pack nutrition label is introduced on foodstuffs in a controlled shopping environment<br>|
| Experimental: Guidelines Daily Amounts (GDA)<br>The GDA front-of-pack nutrition labeling is affixed on the front-of-pack of foodstuffs of the experimental web-based supermarket | Behavioral: GDA<br>* The GDA front-of-pack nutrition label is introduced on foodstuffs in a controlled shopping environment<br>|
| Experimental: Green Tick (Tick)<br>The Tick front-of-pack nutrition labeling is affixed on the front-of-pack of foodstuffs of the experimental web-based supermarket | Behavioral: Tick<br>* The Tick front-of-pack nutrition label is introduced on foodstuffs in a controlled shopping environment<br>|
| No Intervention: No label<br>No front-of-pack nutrition labeling is affixed on the front-of-pack of foodstuffs of the experimental web-based supermarket | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Overall nutritional quality of the shopping cart | The overall nutritional quality of the shopping cart is estimated by computing the Food Standards Agency (FSA) nutrient profiling system for 100 g of the cart (i.e. sum of the FSA score of all products, divided by the number of products chosen) | up to 27 weeks | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Caloric value of the shopping cart | The caloric value of the shopping cart is calculated for 100 g of the cart | up to 27 weeks | 
| Nutrients content of the shopping cart | The nutrients content (i.e. lipids, saturated fatty acids, sugars, proteins, fibers, sodium) of the shopping cart is calculated for 100 g of the cart | up to 27 weeks | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Nutrition labelling, Front-of-pack nutrition labels, Purchasing intentions, Nutritional quality, Randomized controlled trial (RCT)