Clearer food labeling: the antidote to junk food?
What if we replaced, on the labels, the “nutritional information” by the time of physical activity necessary to eliminate the calories produced? What impact would this have on our food consumption patterns?
This is what a team of researchers from Jonhns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in the USA wanted to know. They published their results in the American Journal of Public Health .
An original study
The researchers wanted, by means of a rather specific information campaign, to observe the impact of this on adolescents, in particular concerning their consumption of sodas and sugary drinks.
They decided to replace the nutritional information on these products, such as the number of calories , with the amount of physical exercise it would take to eliminate the product. The main researcher in this study, Dr. BLEICH Sara actually thinks that the current information notified on food products is not necessarily well understood by consumers, and sometimes not even seen. They do n’t really realize what that means. A number of calories will not necessarily make them react if they do not understand, already at the base, what it corresponds to, having no concrete image.
To remedy this, the researchers therefore decided to hang posters in supermarkets in disadvantaged neighborhoods of Baltimore. These posters, installed in the shelves of drinks, give detailed caloric information on 60 cl of different drinks such as fruit juice, soda, or even a sports drink.
In short, these products contain on average:
- 16 teaspoons of sugar
- 250 calories
But for this information to be much more concrete, the posters added the fact that to eliminate these drinks, it would be necessary to walk for a length of 8 kilometers, or for 50 minutes .
The results
3098 beverage purchases were analyzed during this study. These bridge purchases were made by African-American teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18. It is this segment of the population that has been studied, because it is the one that consumes the most sugary drinks, and therefore the most at risk.
When these young people are asked about the good visibility of the panels on the shelves, as well as the good understanding of the message they convey, 35% of those polled answer positively. 4/10 even say they have changed their eating behavior after seeing the prevention campaign posters.
It was indeed found that the number of sugary drinks purchased had decreased in proportion to the increase in the purchase of water, thus confirming the statements of the adolescents concerning their change in eating behavior.
This prevention campaign therefore had a definite impact on behaviour. However, it was not costly, but directly and concretely affected consumers, even after the removal of the panels in the supermarkets.
An article that echoes this one , which we published in May 2014.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.