Front-Of-Pack Nutrition Labelling: A Position Statement of the European Academy of Paediatrics and the European Childhood Obesity Group

The Relation between Consumer Perception and Objective Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels (FOPNLs); Results from an Online Representative Survey

BACKGROUND

This study investigates the efficacy of Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labels (FOPNLs) as a cost-effective tool for improving dietary choices among Greek consumers. The purpose of the study was to investigate Greek customers' preferences and comprehension of commonly used European FOPNL schemes.

METHODS

The Hellenic Food Authority and the Agricultural University of Athens performed a representative online survey in March 2022, titled "The Role of Nutritional Labelling in Public Perception and Food Procurement." Consumers responded to a questionnaire separated into two parts. Part one included (i) personal, sociodemographic information, and (ii) subjective opinions on the FOPNL schemes, and part two comprised (iii) an objective understanding of NutriScore and NutrInform Battery, using 15 different foods. Participants were randomly allocated to these groups, and general mixed models were used for analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 1389 adults completed the first part of the survey, and 74.8% completed the second part. The Multiple Traffic Lights scheme was the preferred FOPNL, chosen by 48.4% of respondents, compared to 19.7% for NutrInform Battery and 12.3% for NutriScore. However, the mean objective assessment score was highest for NutriScore (5.8 ± 2.3) compared to NutrInform Battery (5.4 ± 1.9).

CONCLUSION

The results highlight the necessity for comprehensive nutrition education programs by showing a considerable gap between subjective preferences and an objective understanding of nutrition labels.

The Ability of Nutrition Warning Labels to Improve Understanding and Choice Outcomes Among Consumers Demonstrating Preferences for Unhealthy Foods

BACKGROUND

Given growing interest in warning labels as a form of front-of-pack nutrition label, it is important to better understand the mechanisms via which these labels may exert their effects, especially among those making suboptimal food choices.

OBJECTIVE

The study aim was to assess the extent to which consumers with the weakest outcomes for objective understanding and choice in no-label conditions were able to improve their understanding and choices after exposure to warning labels on food product options.

DESIGN

Post-hoc analyses of the cross-sectional FOP-ICE (Front-of-Pack International Comparative Experimental) study data generated from an online survey that included simulated food choice and nutritional quality ranking scenarios.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING

Participants included 3,680 adults from the following 18 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.

INTERVENTION

Survey respondents selected their preferred product options and ranked foods according to their healthiness before and after exposure to mock breakfast cereal, cake, and pizza products displaying warning labels.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Objective understanding and food choice were measured.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED

Within each product category, analyses were conducted on respondents who initially incorrectly identified the healthiest option and/or selected the unhealthiest option as their preferred choice. Significant differences between proportions selecting each understanding and choice response option were assessed using 2-sample z tests for proportions.

RESULTS

Salience of the warning labels was low; 46% reported noticing the labels while completing the survey. Just over one-third of those aware of the presence of warning labels were able to identify the least healthy option in the post-exposure condition. Approximately one-half reselected the least healthy option post exposure and just over one-fourth switched to the healthiest option.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicated that warning labels can assist some consumers to improve their food quality assessments and choices. However, design improvements could enhance the salience and interpretability of this label format.

Does the use of color coding facilitate parents' understanding of body mass index curves?

BACKGROUND

In France, national guidelines recommend early detection and management of overweight and obesity in children, with multi-year systematic generation of children's body mass index (BMI) curves in primary care. It is important for the parents to understand the BMI curves displayed in the child's health notebook and to become involved in the care with health professionals.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the current study was to compare parents' understanding of a BMI curve displayed using color coding versus their understanding of the same curve displayed without color coding.

METHODS

An observational, cross-sectional, comparative study was performed between February 1, 2021 and November 15, 2021. Adult parents with at least one child attending primary school were included. Two questionnaires testing parents' understanding were completed: one showing BMI curves without color coding (five questions) and one showing BMI curve with color coding (five questions). The primary endpoint was the proportion of parents achieving fully correct answers. Comparisons of endpoints between the color-coded and non-color-coded curve were performed using the McNemar test. Factors associated with the primary endpoint were investigated by mixed logistic regression models with the subject as a random effect.

RESULTS

The 109 participants (45.4% response rate) had an average age of 39.4 ± 6.6 years; 81.7% were women. A total of 214 complete questionnaires were compared: The proportion of participants with fully correct responses was significantly higher using the BMI curve with color coding compared to the curve without color coding (86.0% vs. 54.2%, p<0.0001). In multivariate analysis, the use of color coding was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of achieving fully correct responses (odds ratio: 5.9, 95% CI: 3.0-11.2, p<0.0001).

CONCLUSION

The use of color coding improved parents' understanding of BMI curves. Further research should explore equally the benefits and risks associated with weight loss and mental health when using a colored BMI curve for the detection and management of overweight and obese children.

Food Front-of-Pack Labelling and the Nutri-Score Nutrition Label-Poland-Wide Cross-Sectional Expert Opinion Study

Front-of-pack labelling (FOPL) systems, such as the Nutri-Score, play a crucial role in promoting healthy diets and raising consumer awareness. Our study aimed to gather the opinions of Polish experts on the Nutri-Score and its relation to an ideal information system. We conducted a Poland-wide expert opinion study using a cross-sectional design survey with 75 participants, who had an average of 18 ± 13 years of experience and were mainly employed at medical and agricultural universities. The data were collected with the CAWI method. The results showed that the most important features of an FOPL system were clarity, simplicity, consistency with healthy eating recommendations, and the ability to objectively compare products within the same group. While more than half of the respondents believed that the Nutri-Score provides an overall assessment of a product's nutritional value and facilitates quick purchasing decisions, it falls short in helping consumers compose a balanced diet and cannot be applied to all product groups. The experts also expressed concerns about the system's ability to account for a product's degree of processing, full nutritional value and carbon footprint. In conclusion, Poland's current labelling system needs expansion, but the Nutri-Score requires significant and detailed changes and validation against national guidelines and expert expectations before implementation.

Ultra-Processed Food, Reward System and Childhood Obesity

Obesity and overweight are a major public health problem globally. Diet quality is critical for proper child development, and an unhealthy diet is a preventable risk factor for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as obesity. Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in childhood may increase the BMI/BMI z-score, body fat percentage, or likelihood of overweight. A strict feeding regulation system allows for sufficient food to be consumed to meet ongoing metabolic demands while avoiding overconsumption. This narrative review explores the issues of obesity and the regulation of food intake related to reward systems and UPF consumption. Nutrient composition alone cannot explain the influence of UPFs on the risk of obesity. Furthermore, the non-nutritional properties of UPFs may explain the mechanisms underlying the relationship with obesity and NCDs. UPFs are designed to be highly palatable, appealing, and energy dense with a unique combination of the main taste enhancer ingredients to generate a strong rewarding stimulus and influence the circuits related to feeding facilitation. How individual UPF ingredients influence eating behavior and reward processes remains not fully elucidated. To increase the knowledge on the relationship between UPFs and pediatric obesity, it may be useful to limit the rapid growth in the prevalence of obesity and subsequent related complications, and to develop new strategies for appropriate food and nutrition policies.

The ability of five different front-of-pack labels to assist Australian consumers to identify healthy versus unhealthy foods

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to assess the relative ability of different interpretive front-of-pack food labels to alert consumers to both healthier and unhealthier options to inform their food choices.

METHODS

One thousand Australians completed an online experiment where they rated the nutritional quality of sets of fictional products pre- and post-randomisation to one of five front-of-pack labels: Health Star Rating, Multiple Traffic Lights, Nutri-Score, Reference Intakes and Warning Label. Two sample z-tests were used to assess the ability of each label to facilitate the correct identification of the least and most healthy product options.

RESULTS

The Nutri-Score was superior in assisting respondents to identify both the healthiest and unhealthiest options. The Health Star Rating ranked second for both outcomes, followed by the Multiple Traffic Lights.

CONCLUSIONS

Results reinforce the role of interpretive front-of-pack labels in assisting consumers to understand the nutritional quality of food products and suggest spectrum labels may provide superior utility in assisting consumers to identify both the most and least nutritious products from among available product options.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

The strongest performance of a highly interpretive front-of-pack label (Nutri-Score) featuring colour in a summary indicator suggests potential strategies for enhancing the performance of the Health Star Rating.

Guideline Daily Amounts Versus Nutri-Score Labeling: Perceptions of Greek Consumers About Front-of-Pack Label

Nutrition information is becoming more urgent than ever so that consumers can make informed choices when buying food. This study aimed to investigate consumers' perceptions and behavior of the front-of-pack label (FOPL), between two specific labeling systems, the Nutri-Score and the Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA). This is a post hoc analysis of data from a previous, more extensive cross-sectional study conducted from April 2021 to June 2021. A total of 510 participants were included in the study, of whom 49.6% were women. Participants' perceptions were assessed in nine questions on a five-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree). Multivariate variance analysis (MANOVA) was performed to test the effects of the label GDA vs. Nutri-Score on the overall positive and negative perceptions. We found that the Nutri-Score label was significantly more understandable (p=0.003), clear, visible, and preferable (p<0.001) than the GDA label, which required more time to be understood. The findings indicate that the interpretive label, Nutri-Score, was superior to the non-interpretive label GDA, in terms of consumers' perception, more visibility, less time-consuming, and reliability. The FOPL can improve the ability of consumers in Greece to understand the healthfulness of food products.

Childhood Obesity: Position Statement of Polish Society of Pediatrics, Polish Society for Pediatric Obesity, Polish Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, the College of Family Physicians in Poland and Polish Association for Study on Obesity

Childhood obesity is one of the most important problems of public health. Searching was conducted by using PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, MEDLINE, and EBSCO databases, from January 2022 to June 2022, for English language meta-analyses, systematic reviews, randomized clinical trials, and observational studies from all over the world. Five main topics were defined in a consensus join statement of the Polish Society of Pediatrics, Polish Society for Pediatric Obesity, Polish Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes and Polish Association for the Study on Obesity: (1) definition, causes, consequences of obesity; (2) treatment of obesity; (3) obesity prevention; (4) the role of primary care in the prevention of obesity; (5) Recommendations for general practitioners, parents, teachers, and regional authorities. The statement outlines the role of diet, physical activity in the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity, and gives appropriate recommendations for interventions by schools, parents, and primary health care. A multisite approach to weight control in children is recommended, taking into account the age, the severity of obesity, and the presence of obesity-related diseases. Combined interventions consisting of dietary modification, physical activity, behavioral therapy, and education are effective in improving metabolic and anthropometric indices. More actions are needed to strengthen the role of primary care in the effective prevention and treatment of obesity because a comprehensive, multi-component intervention appears to yield the best results.

Pediatric Preventive Care in Middle-High Resource Countries-The Padova Chart for Health in Children

Importance

The Padova Chart for Health in Children (PCHC) aims to gather the evidence of healthcare promotion and protection for chidren and adolescents (i.e., aged <18 y) into a single document in order to guide families, healthcare providers and social actors on healthy choices. No more than 2% of Europeans and North Americans aged <30 y have a healthy lifestyle. This, together with metabolic and brain plasticity during childhood, creates the ideal opportunity to implement preventive strategies. Guided interventions promoting healthy lifestyle in children and families therefore have a key role in abating the unprecedented pandemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in adulthood.

Observations

The PCHC is divided into four sections: nutrition, cardiovascular health, respiratory health, and mental and social health. Each section is structured in an ALICE approach (assessment, lobbying, intervention, call-for-action, evaluation): assessment of necessity, describing relevance to healthcare; lobbying to identify those who can effect the proposed interventions; interventions involving family, school and peers; a call-for-action to define priorities among the proposed interventions; and objective evaluation measures that can be applied on a population basis.

Conclusions and Relevance

Interventions promoting health in childhood require joint action from multiple institutional, local and family representatives, with the shared goal of promoting health across the entire age group. These lifestyle interventions have the potential to change the lifetime risk trajectory for NCDs.