Testing Ultra-processed Warning Labels in United States

NCT07533877 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: IRB00035394-B
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 7,000
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This randomized controlled online experiment will test whether adding an ultra-processed food (UPF) warning label to the FDA's proposed Nutrition Information Box (NIB) changes consumer perceptions of UPFs among a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. Participants will be randomized to one of four label conditions and will evaluate four UPF yogurt products with different nutritional profiles on the NIB. The primary outcome is purchase intent and the secondary outcomes are perceived healthfulness, perceived usefulness and correct identification of UPF products. This experiment aims to answer the following questions: Do UPF warning labels reduce purchase intentions compared to the NIB alone? Do UPF warning labels reduce perceived healthfulness compared to the NIB alone? Do UPF warning labels help more consumers correctly identify products as ultra-processed compared to the NIB alone? Do different UPF warning label color designs differ in effectiveness at reducing purchase intentions, lowering perceived healthfulness, and improving correct identification of UPFs? Researchers will compare outcomes across the four randomized arms to estimate the independent effect of adding UPF warnings beyond nutrient disclosure in the NIB alone.

Conditions

Diet; Consumer Behavior; Nutrition Labeling

Keywords

Diet; Nutrition Labeling; Ultra-processed; Consumer Behavior

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Purchase Intent

  Likelihood of purchasing each product measured on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 = "Very unlikely" to 5 = "Very likely" indicating how likely the participant would be to buy the product in the next week if it were available in a store. Higher scores indicate greater purchase intent.

  Immediately after label exposure

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Correct Identification of UPF

  Immediately after label exposure

• Perceived Healthfulness

  Immediately after label exposure

• Perceived Usefulness

  Immediately after label exposure

Study Arms (4)

Control

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

NIB only

Behavioral: Label exposure in mock-up UPF products

NIB + UPFWL 1

EXPERIMENTAL

NIB + UPF Warning Label Yellow

Behavioral: Label exposure in mock-up UPF products

NIB + UPFWL 2

EXPERIMENTAL

NIB + UPF Warning Label Red

Behavioral: Label exposure in mock-up UPF products

NIB + UPFWL 3

EXPERIMENTAL

NIB + UPF Warning Label Black

Behavioral: Label exposure in mock-up UPF products

Interventions

Label exposure in mock-up UPF products BEHAVIORAL

This intervention consists of exposure to ultra-processed warning label (UPFWL) conditions embedded within the FDA Nutrition Information Box (NIB). Participants view mock-ups of ultra-processed yogurt products displaying either the NIB alone or the NIB combined with a UPFWL (yellow, red, or black). This intervention experimentally isolates the incremental effect of adding a processing-based warning across products with varying nutritional profiles, providing evidence on how UPFWL, independent of nutrient content, can alter purchase intent, identification of UPFs and perceived healthfulness.

Control; NIB + UPFWL 1; NIB + UPFWL 2; NIB + UPFWL 3

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• years of age or older
• Member of the Verasight Panel
• Residing in the United States

You may not qualify if:

• \<18 years of age
• Not residing in the United States
• Completed the survey in less than one-third of the median completion duration of all participants
• Respondents with high refusal rates (skipped or refused more than 50% of questions)
• Respondents who 'straight-line' all question grids with 6 or more items, where responses are not internally consistent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: lead

Study Sites (1)

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Baltimore, Maryland, 21205, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Consumer Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Julia Wolfson, PhD

  Johns Hopkins University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Julia A Wolfson, PhD. Principal Investigator

CONTACT

213-359-2915; jwolfso7@jhu.edu

Nina Carr, MPH, MBA

CONTACT

240-405-2823; ncarr6@jhu.edu

Study Design

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

Model Details: Participants will view four UPF yogurt products of different nutritional profiles (presented in random order). Participants will be randomized to view the yogurt products with one of four labeling schemes applied: (1) NIB only Control, (2) NIB + UPF label Yellow, (3) NIB + UPF label Red, (4) NIB + UPF label Black. After viewing each product, participants will answer survey questions to assess the intention to purchase the product and the perceived healthfulness of the product, and correct identification of UPF products. Then, the participant will view the assigned label again and answer an additional question about how useful the label is.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 10, 2026
• First Posted: April 16, 2026
• Study Start: April 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 14, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 14, 2026
• Last Updated: April 16, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Locations

US (1)