NCT04909372

Brief Summary

A 2-arm randomised control trial (with and without labels) will be conducted to test the effects of an environmental label on food choices in a virtual supermarket. A sample of 130 participants will take part in two shopping tasks: 1/ selection of 3 products to prepare a home-made dish, and 2/ selection of a ready-to-eat dish. These two tasks will be repeated for two scenarios: 1/ participants will be asked to select the foods for usual meals, and 2/ participants will be asked to select the foods for environmentally-friendly meals. This experimental design will allow to compare food choices in the presence vs. the absence of an environmental label and to investigate whether the label is informative and likely to help individuals to choose more environmental-friendly food options when explicitly asked to do so.

Trial Health

87
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
133

participants targeted

Target at P50-P75 for not_applicable

Timeline
Completed

Started May 2021

Shorter than P25 for not_applicable

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
completed

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

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Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

May 24, 2021

Completed
1 day until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

May 25, 2021

Completed
Same day until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

May 25, 2021

Completed
7 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

June 1, 2021

Completed
10 days until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

June 11, 2021

Completed
Last Updated

March 9, 2022

Status Verified

March 1, 2022

Enrollment Period

Same day

First QC Date

May 24, 2021

Last Update Submit

March 8, 2022

Conditions

Keywords

labellingfood choice

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

  • Environmental impact of the food items selected

    The environmental impact of the food selection will be calculated using the Product Environmental Footprint score for 100g of products throughout their life cycle.

    15 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food choice task and there is no follow up)

Secondary Outcomes (5)

  • Familiarity for the food items selected

    15 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food choice task and there is no follow up)

  • Liking for the food items selected

    15 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food choice task and there is no follow up)

  • Nutritional quality of the food items selected

    15 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food choice task and there is no follow up)

  • Level of processing of the food items selected

    15 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food choice task and there is no follow up)

  • Price of the food items selected

    15 minutes (the time frame denotes time taken to make the food choice task and there is no follow up)

Study Arms (2)

No labelling

NO INTERVENTION

Food products without any label in the virtual supermarket.

Environmental labelling

EXPERIMENTAL

Food products with an environmental label in the virtual supermarket.

Behavioral: Labelling

Interventions

LabellingBEHAVIORAL

Food products in the virtual supermarket will display an environmental label on their packaging, from A (lowest impact) to E (highest impact). The label categories are based on the Product Environmental Footprint, a score recommended by the European Commission that evaluates the environmental impact of a food product based on 16 indicators calculated throughout the life cycle of the products (e.g., climate change in kg carbon dioxide eq, marine eutrophication in kg N eq, land and water use or acidification in mol H+ eq). Instructions will introduce and explain the environmental label to the participants as "In the virtual supermarket, each product will have an environmental label. This label describes whether a product had a negative impact on the environment (green house gaz emissions, water resources depletion, etc.) from A, lowest impact, to E, highest impact.

Environmental labelling

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years+
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersYes
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • Responsible for a substantial proportion of household grocery shopping
  • Fluent in French

You may not qualify if:

  • Dietary restrictions (vegetarian, vegan, allergies, intolerance, …)
  • Uncorrected eye problems
  • Known symptoms of nausea and dizziness when wearing a virtual reality headset

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation

Dijon, 21000, France

Location

Related Publications (1)

  • Arrazat L, Chambaron S, Arvisenet G, Goisbault I, Charrier JC, Nicklaus S, Marty L. Traffic-light front-of-pack environmental labelling across food categories triggers more environmentally friendly food choices: a randomised controlled trial in virtual reality supermarket. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2023 Jan 26;20(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s12966-023-01410-8.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Food Preferences

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Feeding BehaviorBehavior

Study Officials

  • Lucile Marty, PhD

    Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
NONE
Purpose
PREVENTION
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

May 24, 2021

First Posted

June 1, 2021

Study Start

May 25, 2021

Primary Completion

May 25, 2021

Study Completion

June 11, 2021

Last Updated

March 9, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-03

Data Sharing

IPD Sharing
Will share

Share on Open Science Framework

Shared Documents
STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP
Time Frame
On publication, indefinitely
Access Criteria
Open website
More information

Available IPD Datasets

Study Protocol Access
Statistical Analysis Plan Access
Individual Participant Data Set Access

Locations