Traffic-light labels could reduce population intakes of calories, total fat, saturated fat, and sodium

PLoS One. 2017 Feb 9;12(2):e0171188. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171188. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Traffic-light labelling has been proposed as a public health intervention to improve the dietary intakes of consumers.

Objectives: to model the potential impact of avoiding foods with red traffic lights on the label on the energy, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and sugars intakes of Canadian adults.

Methods: Canadian adults aged 19 and older (n = 19,915) who responded to the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), Cycle 2.2. The nutrient levels in foods consumed by Canadians in CCHS were profiled using the United Kingdom's criteria for traffic light labelling. Whenever possible, foods assigned a red traffic light for one or more of the profiled nutrients were replaced with a similar food currently sold in Canada, with nutrient levels not assigned any red traffic lights. Average intakes of calories, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and sugars under the traffic light scenario were compared with actual intakes of calories and these nutrients (baseline) reported in CCHS.

Results: Under the traffic light scenario, Canadian's intake of energy, total fat, saturated fat, and sodium were significantly reduced compared to baseline; sugars intakes were not significantly reduced. Calorie intake was reduced by 5%, total fat 13%, saturated fat 14%, and sodium 6%.

Conclusion: Governments and policy makers should consider the adoption of traffic light labelling as a population level intervention to improve dietary intakes and chronic disease risk.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Canada / epidemiology
  • Color
  • Consumer Health Information / methods
  • Dietary Carbohydrates / administration & dosage
  • Dietary Fats* / administration & dosage
  • Energy Intake*
  • Fatty Acids / administration & dosage
  • Feeding Behavior*
  • Female
  • Food Labeling / methods*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Sodium, Dietary* / administration & dosage
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Dietary Carbohydrates
  • Dietary Fats
  • Fatty Acids
  • Sodium, Dietary

Grants and funding

This research was supported by funds to the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN) from the Social Science and Humanities research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and Statistics Canada. Although the research and analysis are based on data from Statistics Canada, the opinions expressed do not represent the views of Statistics Canada or the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN). Additional funding for this research came from the Earle W. McHenry Endowed Research Chair from the University of Toronto. Teri Emrich was supported by a CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship, and a Cancer Care Ontario and CIHR Training Grant in Population Intervention for Chronic Disease Prevention: A Pan-Canadian Program (Grant #53893). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.