High in Front-of-package Label Pretest

NCT06227507 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 1641776-7
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 4,052
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this trial is to understand which of five "High In" front-of-package label designs is most effective at helping consumers identify the healthiest products (i.e., products that are high in the fewest number of nutrients of concern: added sugar, sodium, and saturated fat).

Conditions

Understanding of Food Nutrient Content

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Identification of healthiest product - dichotomous variable "Correct" (Selected product that is high in only 1 nutrient of concern) or "Incorrect" (otherwise)

  Measured with: "Which of the products below is the healthiest in terms of added sugars, sodium, and saturated fat content? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends limiting consumption of added sugars, sodium, and saturated fat." There is no formal name for this measure/scale.

  During a ~10 minute online survey

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Identification of least healthy product - dichotomous variable "Correct" (Selected product that is high in all 3 nutrients of concern) or "Incorrect" (otherwise)

  During a ~10 minute online survey

• Identification of high-sodium product(s) - dichotomous variable "Correct" (Selected all products that are high in sodium) or "Incorrect" (otherwise)

  During a ~10 minute online survey

• Identification of high-saturated-fat product(s) - dichotomous variable "Correct" (Selected all products that are high in saturated fat) or "Incorrect" (otherwise)

  During a ~10 minute online survey

• Identification of high-added-sugars product(s) - dichotomous variable "Correct" (Selected all products that are high in added sugars) or "Incorrect" (otherwise)

  During a ~10 minute online survey

• Perceived Message Effectiveness of label: Discouragement - continuous variable from a 3-item scale in which each item uses a 1-5 response scale

  During a ~10 minute online survey

Other Outcomes (1)

• Nutrition literacy

  During a ~10 minute online survey

Study Arms (5)

No icon

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be shown 3 frozen meals at once; each product will be high in 1, 2, or 3 nutrients of concern (added sugar, sodium, and/or saturated fat) and will be labeled as such with a rectangular "high in" front-of-package label. The label will solely contain "high in" and nutrient text with no icon.

Behavioral: Front-of-package label

Magnifying glass

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be shown 3 frozen meals at once; each product will be high in 1, 2, or 3 nutrients of concern (added sugar, sodium, and/or saturated fat) and will be labeled as such with a rectangular "high in" front-of-package label. The label will contain "high in" and nutrient text, along with a magnifying glass icon.

Behavioral: Front-of-package label

Exclamation Mark

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be shown 3 frozen meals at once; each product will be high in 1, 2, or 3 nutrients of concern (added sugar, sodium, and/or saturated fat) and will be labeled as such with a rectangular "high in" front-of-package label. The label will contain "high in" and nutrient text, along with an exclamation mark icon.

Behavioral: Front-of-package label

Exclamation Mark with multiple labels

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be shown 3 frozen meals at once; each product will be high in 1, 2, or 3 nutrients of concern (added sugar, sodium, and/or saturated fat) and will be labeled as such with 1, 2, or 3 rectangular "high in" front-of-package labels, one for each specific nutrient of concern. Each label will contain "high in" and nutrient text, along with an exclamation mark icon.

Behavioral: Front-of-package label

Exclamation Mark with Black Background

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be shown 3 frozen meals at once; each product will be high in 1, 2, or 3 nutrients of concern (added sugar, sodium, and/or saturated fat) and will be labeled as such with a rectangular "high in" front-of-package label. The label will contain "high in" and nutrient text, along with an exclamation mark icon. The background of the "high in" text will be black, and the "high in" text will be white.

Behavioral: Front-of-package label

Interventions

Front-of-package label BEHAVIORAL

Participants will identify the healthfulness of three packaged foods, each displayed with front-of-package labels as specified by their assigned group.

Exclamation Mark; Exclamation Mark with Black Background; Exclamation Mark with multiple labels; Magnifying glass; No icon

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 99 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
• Participants will reflect the U.S. Census Bureau's 2021 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 33% of the median completion time

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Davis: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of California, Davis

Davis, California, 95616, United States

Location

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

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 8, 2024
• First Posted: January 29, 2024
• Study Start: February 15, 2024
• Primary Completion: March 15, 2024
• Study Completion: March 15, 2024
• Last Updated: May 9, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)