Attitudes and Understanding of Plant Sterol Claims on Food Labels

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Daily consumption of plant sterols have been demonstrated to lower blood cholesterol. The Canadian government has recently allowed plant sterols to be added to certain foods and has also approved a disease risk reduction claim to be allowed on products containing plant sterols. However, it is unknown how Canadian consumers respond to plant sterol claims. The objective of this study was to evaluate the attitudes and understanding of different types of plant sterol claims on food labels

Conditions
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General Population, Consumer Research

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Mock package questionnaire


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Primary grocery shoppers Canadian adults between the ages 20 to 69 years Exclusion Criteria: Did not have an active email address or access to internet

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 20 Years
Maximum Age: 69 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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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Canadian Consumer Monitor Panel<br>Canadian Consumer Monitor Panel is an online panel which answer surveys every 8-10 weeks about diet and health | Behavioral: Mock package questionnaire<br>* Within a online questionnaire we exposed participants randomly to 4 mock margarine packages differing only by the claim it carried and asked participants to answer several questions on attitudes and understanding after each mock package.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Response to survey questions measuring attitudes towards plant sterol claims using 5-point likert rating scales | Within a online survey, participants were exposed to 4 mock margarine packages that differed only by the claim it carried. After being exposed to each mock package, participants were asked to rate their perceived attractiveness, healthiness, credibility, usefulness of the tested plant sterol claims using 5-point likert scales. Participants were also asked to rate their purchasing intentions of the mock margarine product with the different plant sterol claims. | On average the survey took 25 min to complete | 
| Response to survey questions evaluating participants understanding of plant sterol claims | After each mock package, understanding of plant sterol claims was evaluated using various survey methods. First, participants were asked to rate their perceived clarity of the wording of the claim using a 5-point likert scale (a subjective measure of understanding). Second, participants were ask to rate, on 5-point likert scales, the perceived benefit of consuming the mock margarine package for subgroups with different health conditions (an indirect measure of understanding). Finally we asked participants, in an open ended question, to explain what a claim means to a friend (an objective measure of understanding). | On average the survey took 25 minutes to complete | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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attitudes and understanding of plant sterol claims, general Canadian population