Nutrition labels have significant impact on consumption, says study

A recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine says that nutrition labels on food can bring change in the consumers’ intake of nutrients, calories and fat intake. The last two decades have seen a gradual shift in the way food has been marketed, with packaged foods, restaurants educating people about the nutrient value of the food they offer. Labels on packaged foods, restaurant menus with calorie counts, front-of-pack labels are encouraging people to make informed healthier food choices.

Led by researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, the study was done with a thorough meta-analysis of international studies, assessing the effectiveness of multiple types of food labels. The meta-analysis reviewed two million unique observations, which included consumer reported dietary intakes, purchases, and sales receipts. Researchers found that the impact of these labels was limited, with the effect seen only on a part of the target group.While the effectiveness of the labels hasn’t been clear, the researchers found new evidence of on what kind of labels work and what don’t.

On a positive note, the other findings said that the labelling reduced consumers’ intake calories by 6.6%, total fat by 10.6% and other unhealthy food options by 13%. The research also found that the labels increased consumers’ vegetable consumption by 13.5% and reductions in consumption of trans fat and sodium by 64.3% and 8.9% respectively.The research also examined the placement of the said labels and other characteristics and found no consistent effect.

Thus the researchers concluded that a general presence or absence of information about the nutrition value of foods is relevant to consumers and industry than specific types of labels.