Abstract
BackgroundLarge soft drink sizes increase consumption, and thereby contribute to obesity. Portion size labelling may help consumers to select more appropriate food portions. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of portion size and caloric Guidelines for Daily Amounts (GDA) labelling on consumers' portion size choices and consumption of regular soft drinks.MethodsA field experiment that took place on two subsequent evenings in a Dutch cinema. Participants (n = 101) were asked to select one of five different portion sizes of a soft drink. Consumers were provided with either portion size and caloric GDA labelling (experimental condition) or with millilitre information (control condition).ResultsLabelling neither stimulated participants to choose small portion sizes (OR = .75, p = .61, CI: .25 - 2.25), nor did labelling dissuade participants to choose large portion sizes (OR = .51, p = .36, CI: .12 - 2.15).ConclusionsPortion size and caloric GDA labelling were found to have no effect on soft drink intake. Further research among a larger group of participants combined with pricing strategies is required. The results of this study are relevant for the current public health debate on food labelling.
Highlights
Large soft drink sizes increase consumption, and thereby contribute to obesity
This study was one of the first experimental studies that are known to us, that assessed the impact of portion size and caloric Guidelines for Daily Amounts (GDA) labelling on consumers’ regular soft drink portion size choices, their intake of soft drinks, and their self-reported awareness of portion sizes
We conclude that portion size labelling did not have an effect on selecting reference portion sizes of soft drink, and that further research is needed to assess the impact of labelling on selecting large portion sizes
Summary
Large soft drink sizes increase consumption, and thereby contribute to obesity. Portion size labelling may help consumers to select more appropriate food portions. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of portion size and caloric Guidelines for Daily Amounts (GDA) labelling on consumers’ portion size choices and consumption of regular soft drinks. Soft drinks have been recognized as potentially important contributors to obesity [5] and it has been demonstrated that serving larger soft drink portions results in increased beverage consumption [6]. To the availability of larger portion sizes, ‘portion distortion’ [7,8] might stimulate the consumption of increasingly larger amounts of soft drinks. Portion size labelling could both be a promising and feasible intervention to help consumers to select appropriate portion sizes [12,13,14]. A pilot study on the most effective format for portion size labelling indicated that providing consumers with a reference portion size was the most promising format [15]
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