Nutritional Content According to the Presence of Front of Package Marketing Strategies: The Case of Ultra-Processed Snack Food Products Purchased in Costa Rica.

Tatiana Gamboa-Gamboa,Adriana Blanco-Metzler,Maria F Kroker-Lobos,Stefanie Vandevijvere,Manuel Ramirez-Zea

doi:10.3390/nu11112738

Abstract

The industry uses nutrition and health claims, premium offers, and promotional characters as marketing strategies (MS). The inclusion of these MS on ultra-processed products may influence child and adolescent purchase behavior. This study determined the proportion of foods carrying claims and marketing strategies, also the proportion of products with critical nutrients declaration, and nutritional profile differences between products that carry or not claims and MS on the front-of-package (FoP) of ultra-processed food products sold in Costa Rica. Data were obtained from 2423 photographs of seven food groups consumed as snacks that were sold in one of the most widespread and popular hypermarket chains in Costa Rica in 2015. Ten percent of products lacked a nutrition facts panel. Sodium was the least reported critical nutrient. Energy and critical nutrients were significantly highest in products that did not include any nutrition or health claim and in products that included at least one MS. Forty-four percent and 10% of all products displayed at least one nutrition or at least one health claim, respectively, and 23% displayed at least one MS. In conclusion, regulations are needed to restrict claims and marketing on ultra-processed food packages to generate healthier food environments and contribute to the prevention of childhood and adolescent obesity in Costa Rica.

Highlights

North, Central, and South America have the highest prevalence of childhood obesity in the world [1,2]
This study aims to determine: (1) the proportion of foods carrying claims and marketing strategies, (2) proportion of products with critical nutrients declaration and (3) nutritional profile differences between products that carry or not claims and MS on the FoP of ultra-processed food products sold in Costa Rica
Overall proportion proportion of ultra-processed ultra-processed food products commonly commonly consumed consumed as a snack by children and adolescents, according to the INFORMAS food categories classification (34), Costa Rica

Summary

Introduction

Central, and South America have the highest prevalence of childhood obesity in the world [1,2]. The proportion of Latin American children with excess weight is more than. Costa Rica is no exception, where 34% of children between 6 to 12 years old are overweight or obese [3]. An obesogenic food environment, characterized by ultra-processed food products highly available and advertised, is one of the significant drivers of obesity that could be preventable [4,5,6]. Evidence suggests a strong association between the rise of childhood and adolescent obesity and an increase in daily snacking [7]. Snacking is associated with a greater intake of high energy dense

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