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.
Highlights
Traffic-light labelling has been proposed as a public health intervention to reduce chronic disease risk by improving the dietary intakes of consumers [1,2]
The present study modeled the potential effect of avoiding foods with red traffic lights on the label and their replacement by similar products already sold in Canada on the energy, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and sugars intakes of Canadian adults
Calorie intake was reduced by 5%, total fat by 13%, saturated fat by 14%, and sodium by 6% among Canadians 19
Summary
Traffic-light labelling has been proposed as a public health intervention to reduce chronic disease risk by improving the dietary intakes of consumers [1,2]. Traffic-light labels are a form of interpretative front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition rating systems that provide information on the amount of calories and selected nutrients found within a specified amount of food (i.e. a nutrient-specific system) [3]. This particular type of system uses traffic-light colours to interpret for the consumer if the amounts of specific nutrients found in the product are “high”, “medium”, or “low” (Fig 1). A previous study identified traffic light labels as the FOP system that most consistently helped consumers to identify healthier choices [4]. PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0171188 February 9, 2017
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