Perceived Effectiveness of Added Sugar Labels

NCT04637412 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 1641776
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,448
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study aims to develop a restaurant menu label to indicate foods and beverage items on restaurant menus that contain high amounts of added sugars and to test its perceived effectiveness.

Conditions

Health Knowledge; Attitude to Health

Keywords

Added Sugars; Health messaging

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Perceived message effectiveness (PME)

  Measured using 3 items adapted from Baig et al. (2018): scale 1-5, "This label makes me concerned about the health effects of consuming menu items high in added sugars", "This label makes consuming menu items high in added sugars seem unpleasant", "This label discourages me from wanting to consume menu items high in added sugars." This outcome is for the between-subjects experiment.

  Up to approximately 5 minutes

• Perception of how discouraging the label is for wanting to consume items high in added sugars

  Based on a single item adapted from Baig et al. (2018): "This label discourages me from wanting to consume menu items high in added sugar" (scale 1-5). This outcome is the within-subjects objectives.

  Up to approximately 7 minutes

• Perception of knowledge gain

  Dichotomous response (yes/no) to the question, "Did you learn something new from this label?" This outcome is for the between-subjects experiment.

  Up to approximately 1 minute

• Correct identification of items high in added sugars

  "Now please look at the menu items below, and select all the ones you think have more than half the daily value for added sugars" with 8 possible responses. A dichotomous outcome variable based on the distribution of correct answers in the sample will be created. This outcome is for the between-subjects experiment.

  Up to approximately 2 minutes

Study Arms (3)

Control label

EXPERIMENTAL

Participant will see a QR code and footnote saying, "Scan the QR code for more menu information." The label will be applied to all menu items displayed.

Other: Menu label

Icon plus text added sugars label

EXPERIMENTAL

Participant will see a label containing an icon plus text label with an explanatory footnote. The label will be applied to items high in added sugars (exceeding half the daily value). Participants will randomly view one of 18 variations of icons and text in this arm.

Other: Menu label

Icon only added sugars label

EXPERIMENTAL

Participant will see a label containing an icon only with an explanatory footnote. The label will be applied to items high in added sugars (exceeding half the daily value). Participants will randomly view one of 6 variations of icons in this arm.

Other: Menu label

Interventions

Menu label OTHER

Participants will be shown a sample of items from a restaurant menu, displayed with labels

Control label; Icon only added sugars label; Icon plus text added sugars label

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Equal or greater than 18 years of age
• Less than 100 years of age
• English-speaking
• U.S. residents
• Had to have purchased food from a restaurant at least once per month prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Participants will reflect the U.S. Census Bureau's 2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates for gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and age

You may not qualify if:

• Failing the attention check question
• Completing the survey in less than 30% of the median completion time
• Straightlining
• Providing nonsensical responses to open-ended questions

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Davis: lead
• Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of California, Davis

Davis, California, 95616, United States

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Baig SA, Noar SM, Gottfredson NC, Boynton MH, Ribisl KM, Brewer NT. UNC Perceived Message Effectiveness: Validation of a Brief Scale. Ann Behav Med. 2019 Jul 17;53(8):732-742. doi: 10.1093/abm/kay080.

  PMID: 30321252 BACKGROUND

• Sigala DM, Hall MG, Musicus AA, Roberto CA, Solar SE, Fan S, Sorscher S, Nara D, Falbe J. Perceived effectiveness of added-sugar warning label designs for U.S. restaurant menus: An online randomized controlled trial. Prev Med. 2022 Jul;160:107090. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107090. Epub 2022 May 17.

  PMID: 35594928 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Jennifer Falbe, ScD, MPH

  University of California, Davis

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The study uses both a between- and within-subjects design. Between-subjects design: Participants will be randomized to view restaurant menu items with a control label (QR code) or either one of two added sugars labels: an icon based label or the same icon plus text. (Within the icon condition, participants will be randomized to view 1 of 6 label icons. In the icon plus text condition, participants will be randomized to see 1 of 3 text options accompanying 1 of the 6 icons. Within-subjects design: To identify which label is perceived as most discouraging, participants will view the 3 labels one-by-one in random order, for a total of 3 conditions. To identify which design variations in icon and text are perceived as most discouraging, participants will view 6 icon-only labels one-by-one in random order. Then participants will view each of the 3 text variations together with one of the icons one-by-one in random order.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 16, 2020
• First Posted: November 19, 2020
• Study Start: November 13, 2020
• Primary Completion: December 26, 2020
• Study Completion: December 26, 2020
• Last Updated: January 8, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)