Effectiveness of Displaying Traffic Light Food Labels on the Front of Food Packages in Japanese University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Wakui, Nobuyuki; Matsuoka, Raini; Togawa, Chikako; Ichikawa, Kotoha; Kagi, Hinako; Watanabe, Masahiro; Ikarashi, Nobutomo; Yamamura, Miho; Shirozu, Shunsuke; Machida, Yoshiaki

doi:10.3390/ijerph20031806

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 24 publications

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“…Indeed, this measure promotes better product choices (Taillie et al, 2020) and is aligned with the recommendation of the World Health Organization that food packaging should be used as a cost‐effective nutritional intervention to improve national diets owing to the global health issue of poor nutrition (World Health Organization, 2019). Relevant studies related to this topic have been conducted in Australia (Scrinis & Parker, 2016), Brazil (Lima et al, 2018), Canada (Acton et al, 2022), China (He et al, 2018), Japan (Chiba, 2022; Wakui et al, 2023), Malaysia (Shammakh et al, 2020), Singapore (Pettigrew et al, 2023), and the United States (Roseman et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fruit pictures on beverage packages, health effect, and purchase intention

Kato,

Sugiura

2024

Int J Consumer Studies

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Faced with the serious challenge of reducing consumer obesity, research on food packaging has been limited to encouraging healthy product choices among children with poor health awareness and adults with obesity concerns. While there is a lack of discussion on packaging appealing to health‐conscious consumers, the literature has shown that realistic pictures of fruits drawn on packages can convey health and be attractive. Though this conclusion applies to apples and oranges, which are sweet fruits that can be eaten as they are without processing, results can vary with fruits such as lemons, which have a sour taste and are difficult to eat directly. This study fills the two gaps mentioned above. In Japan, a randomized controlled trial was conducted on the packaging of lemon drinks with illustrations and pictures of lemons that evoked sourness. The results showed that lemon pictures had a positive effect on purchase intention for those with high health involvement and a negative influence on those with low health involvement. In the case of the lemon illustration, this interaction did not occur, suggesting that the presence or absence of the recall of sourness was the trigger. If practitioners do not have the above perspective, there is a risk that they will mistakenly attempt to reduce the attractiveness of the product.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fruit pictures on beverage packages, health effect, and purchase intention

Kato,

Sugiura

2024

Int J Consumer Studies

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Investigation of the 1-week effect of traffic light nutrition labeling on diet selection among Japanese university students: a randomized controlled trial

Wakui,

Matsuoka,

Ichikawa

et al. 2024

BMC Public Health

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Background The method of displaying nutrition information labels on the front of food packaging (FOP: Front of Pack) has been implemented worldwide to prevent lifestyle-related diseases. This study aimed to investigate whether the use of the UK’s Traffic Light Food (TLF) label, known as the FOP label, influences the dietary choices of Japanese youth and promotes healthy dietary choices. Methods Diet selection was performed for one week each during the baseline and intervention periods. During the intervention period, TLF labels were displayed on meal images of the intervention group. Participants chose what they would like to have for dinner of the day from 15 images. Each meal was scored based on the color of the nutrition label, and a comparison between groups was made to determine whether TLF labeling influenced meal selection for dinner. The psychological stress caused by the presence or absence of nutrition labels and nutritional components when choosing meals was also evaluated. Results A total of 69 participants were randomly assigned to two groups. Dietary choice scores indicated that the TLF-labeled group made significantly healthier dietary choices than the unlabeled group. Additionally, the TLF-labeled group showed a significant increase in the percentage of people conscious of nutritional components when choosing meals. Furthermore, a significant increase in the number of people conscious of protein, a nutritional ingredient not indicated on the TLF label, was observed. During the test period, no difference in psychological stress caused by the presence and absence of the TLF labels was observed. Conclusions The use of TLF labels also encouraged healthy dietary choices among Japanese university students. The use of FOP nutrition labels should be considered in Japan to prevent lifestyle-related diseases through healthy dietary choices. Trial registration UMIN Clinical Trials Registry Number: UMIN000047268. Registered March 23, 2022.

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Effectiveness of Displaying Traffic Light Food Labels on the Front of Food Packages in Japanese University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Cited by 2 publications

References 24 publications

Fruit pictures on beverage packages, health effect, and purchase intention

Fruit pictures on beverage packages, health effect, and purchase intention

Investigation of the 1-week effect of traffic light nutrition labeling on diet selection among Japanese university students: a randomized controlled trial

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