Identifying the effect of shelf nutrition labels on consumer purchases: results of a natural experiment and consumer survey

Abstract

NuVal, developed by NuVal, LLC, is a shelf nutrition label that rates the nutritional quality of foods on a scale of 1 (worst) to 100 (best). The objective of this study was to explore the impact of the NuVal labels on food-purchasing patterns. In 2014, NuVal updated its nutrient profiling system, which changed the NuVal score on many foods. We took advantage of this "natural experiment" to assess the extent to which a change in the NuVal score influenced purchases of yogurts, a category with a wide range of more and less healthy alternatives. We supplemented these data with a survey of consumers in stores using NuVal labels to obtain their experience with the labels and the extent to which they state that the labels influence their purchases. Results suggested that a 1-point increase in the NuVal score is associated with a 0.49% increase in sales. Because only 8% of survey respondents reported using NuVal to influence dairy purchases, the impact of a change in the score among users may be >10 times the average effect. Results suggest that front-of-package nutrition labels are likely to influence purchasing patterns. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03390075.