Do nutrition labels influence healthier food choices? Analysis of label viewing behaviour and subsequent food purchases in a labelling intervention trial

Abstract

Background There are few objective data on how nutrition labels are used in real-world shopping situations, or how they affect dietary choices and patterns. Design The Starlight study was a four-week randomised, controlled trial of the effects of three different types of nutrition labels on consumer food purchases: Traffic Light Labels, Health Star Rating labels, or Nutrition Information Panels (control). Smartphone technology allowed participants to scan barcodes of packaged foods and receive randomly allocated labels on their phone screen, and to record their food purchases. The study app therefore provided objectively recorded data on label viewing behaviour and food purchases over a four..