Consumers' Response to Sugar Label Formats in Packaged Foods: A Multi-Methods Study in Brazil

Abstract

Providing information about the sugar content of packaged foods on product labels is an important strategy to lower consumers' sugar intake. This study assessed the effect of exposure to different sugar labels on consumers' understanding of the sugar content of foods and their food choices. In the first phase, five focus groups were conducted with a convenience sample of Brazilian adults to explore their perceptions about food labelling in general and sugar labelling in particular. Based on the qualitative results, four sugar label formats were developed and subsequently tested in a five-arm study on 1,277 adults via a randomised controlled online survey. The formats were: (i) no sugar information—control, (ii) total and added sugar content displayed in the Nutrition Information Panel (NIP), (iii) a front-of-package (FoP) octagonal warning for “high-in-sugar” products, (iv) a FoP magnifying glass warning for “high-in-sugar” products, and (v) a “high-in-sugar” warning text embedded on the NIP. Participants from the focus groups reported being confused about the meaning of “sugar” and “added sugar” on food labels and indicated that more interpretive labels, such as the FoP warnings, would help them choose products with low sugar content. In the experiment, all intervention sugar label formats improved participants' understanding of the sugar content of the tested food products, with the FoP warnings (iii and iv) showing the best results. While non-significant differences among label conditions were observed for food choices, the FoP octagonal warning prompted participants to choose high-in-sugar products less often. Given current public policy agendas aiming to reduce added sugar intake, there is a need to strengthen food labelling policies and nutrition disclosure policies that target the display of added sugar and build consumer awareness in using these tools to avoid high-in-sugar products.

Commentary: Editorial: Strengthening food labeling policies in Brazil

“…The research topic "Strengthening Food Labeling Policies in Brazil" provided an overview of food labeling policies in Brazil. Regarding the implementation of front-ofpackage nutrition labeling (FoPNL), the results discussed in the research topic suggest that the effectiveness of FoPNL systems depends on a number of factors including the design of the label, see for example, Prates et al (1), Fernandes et al (2), and Scapin et al (3); and the nutrient profile model used to define which products are subject to them, see for example, Borges et al (4) and Tomaz et al (5). Thus, Prates et al (1) showed that the Brazilian magnifying glass model did not perform as well as the triangular or octagonal FoPNL models, while Borges et al (4) showed that because of the nutrient profile model adopted in Brazil, which is considerably more permissive than the nutrient profile model of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), fewer products will receive FoPNL in Brazil.…”