Learning about good nutrition with the 5-color front-of-package label "Nutri-Score":an experimental study

The Nutri-Score is a 5-color front-of-pack nutrition label designed to provide consumers with an easily understandable guideline to the healthiness of food products.The impact that the Nutri-Score may have on consumers’ choices is unclear since different experimental paradigms have found vastly different effect sizes.In the present study,we have investigated how student participants change a hypothetical personal 1-daydietary plan after a learning phase during which they learn about the Nutri-Scores of the available food items.Participants were instructed to compose a healthy diet plan in order that the question of whether the NutriScore would improve their ability to compose a healthy dietary plan could be investigated,independent of the question of whether they would apply this knowledge in their ordinary lives.We found a substantial(Cohen’s d=0.86) positive impact on nutritional quality(as measured by the Nutrient Profiling System score of the Food Standards Agency) and a medium-sized(Cohen’s d=0.43) reduction of energy content.Energy content reduction was larger for participants who had initially composed plans with higher energy content.The results suggest that the Nutri-Score has the potential to guide consumers to healthier food choices.It remains unclear,however,whether this potential will be reflected in real-life dietary choices.