Testing Ultraprocessed Food Labels in Chile

NCT06842680 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 24-2896b
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 3,645
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this experiment is to examine the effects of a warning label signaling that a product is ultraprocessed among a sample of Chilean parents. The main questions this experiment aims to answer are: Do ultraprocessed warning labels on their own impact product purchase intentions? Do ultraprocessed warning labels impact product purchase intentions in the presence of nutrient warning labels? Do ultraprocessed warning labels help more consumers identify ultraprocessed foods? Participants will be randomly assigned to a control arm or an ultraprocessed warning label arm. In both arms, products will carry nutrient warning labels, which are Chile's current policy. Participants will see three similar products, all of which will be ultraprocessed: one not high in any nutrients of concern, one high in sodium, and one high in sodium and saturated fat. For each product, participants will rate their purchase intentions and indicate whether they believe the product to be ultraprocessed. Researchers will compare results across arms.

Conditions

Diet, Healthy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Purchase intentions, mean score

  How likely the participant would be to buy products will be measured by survey. Response options will be on a 5-point scale from "very unlikely" (coded as 1) to "very likely" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing a higher likelihood of buying products.

  During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.

• Correct identification of products as ultraprocessed

  Correct identification of products as ultraprocessed will be measured by survey. Response will be coded in a dichotomous 0-1 range, where 1 indicates that the participant correctly identified the products as ultraprocessed and 0 indicates that the participant did not correctly identify the products as ultraprocessed.

  During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Perceived product healthfulness, mean score

  During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.

Study Arms (2)

Control

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioral: Control

Ultraprocessed warning label

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Ultraprocessed warning label

Interventions

Control BEHAVIORAL

Products do not carry ultraprocessed warning label. To match the current Chilean legislation, products carry octagonal nutrient labels when applicable.

Control

Ultraprocessed warning label BEHAVIORAL

Products carry ultraprocessed warning label. To match the current Chilean legislation, products carry octagonal nutrient labels when applicable.

Ultraprocessed warning label

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• years or older
• Parent or guardian of child between 2-14 years old who has never been diagnosed with diabetes, high blood sugar, pre-diabetes or insulin resistance
• Residing in Chile

You may not qualify if:

• Less than 18 years old
• Not parent or guardian of child between 2-14 years old who has never been diagnosed with diabetes, high blood sugar, pre-diabetes or insulin resistance
• Not residing in Chile

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: lead
• Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos: collaborator
• Bloomberg Philanthropies: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599, United States

Location

Study Officials

• Aline D'Angelo Campos, MPP

  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  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: February 18, 2025
• First Posted: February 24, 2025
• Study Start: July 14, 2025
• Primary Completion: August 31, 2025
• Study Completion: August 31, 2025
• Last Updated: September 9, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP
• Time Frame: The Study Protocol and statistical analysis plan will be available by March 2025 (prior to data collection). A de-identified version of the data collected and analytic code used will become available after data collection and analysis and will remain available indefinitely.
• Access Criteria: Open access.

Locations

US (1)