Clinical trial NCT03761342: Evaluating the Relative Effectiveness of Two Front-of-pack Nutrition Labels
Official 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
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Diet Habit
Diet Modification
Food Selection
Food Preferences
Nutrition Poor
Keywords: Front-of-pack label
Nutrition label
Diet Quality
Online grocery store
Diet
Lead sponsor: Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore
First posted: 2018-12-03
Enrollment: 154
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 21
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: 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.

Detailed description: 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:

1. Arm 1: A control arm that mirrors a traditional web-grocery store with no HCS or other FOP labels.
2. 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.
3. 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:

1. Energy (kCal)
2. Sugar (g)
3. Total fat (g)
4. Saturated fat (g)
5. Sodium (g)
6. Fiber (g)
7. Protein (g) And
8. Average Nutri-Score across all products purchased where A=5 and E=1, and
9. 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.

Eligibility criteria: 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.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Diet Quality per shopping trip
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Total Energy in kilocalories
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Total Sugar in grams
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Total fat in grams
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Saturated fat in grams
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Sodium in milligrams
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Fiber in grams
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Protein in grams
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Energy per serving in kilocalories per serving
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Sugar per serving in grams per serving
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Total fat per serving in grams per serving
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Saturated fat per serving in grams per serving
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Sodium per serving in milligrams per serving
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Fiber per serving in grams per serving
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Protein per serving in grams per serving
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Average Nutri-Score across all products purchased
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Cost per calorie in dollars per kilocalorie
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
measure: Total spend in dollars
timeFrame: Once a week for three weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Singapore
country: Singapore
facility: Duke-NUS Medical School
Study officials:
References: