Attitudes and Understanding of Sodium Claims on Food Labels

University of Toronto987 enrolled

Overview

Sodium-related claims on food labels should help people find lower sodium food choices; however consumer attitudes and understanding of such claims are unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate: 1) the attitudes and understanding to different types of permitted sodium claims and 2) the effect of hypertension on responses to such claims.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

987

Conditions

Hypertension

Interventions

Mock package questionnaireBEHAVIORAL

Within a online questionnaire we exposed participants randomly to 4 mock packages differing only by the nutrition claim it carried and asked participants to answer several questions on attitudes and understanding after each mock package.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 20 YearsMax age: 69 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Primary grocery shoppers * Canadian adults between the ages 20 to 69 years Exclusion Criteria: * Did not have an email address or have access to internet

Locations (1)

University of Guelph

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Response to survey questions measuring attitudes towards sodium claims using 5 point likert rating scales

Within an online survey, participants were exposed to 4 mock soup packages that differed only by the claim it carried. After being exposed to each mock package, participants were asked to rate their perceived attractiveness, healthiness, credibility, usefulness of the tested sodium claims using 5 point likert scales. Participants were also asked to rate their purchasing intentions of the mock soup product with the different sodium claims.

Time frame: On average the survey took 25 minutes to complete

Response to survey questions evaluating participants understanding of sodium claims

After each mock package, understanding of sodium claims was evaluated using various survey methods. First, participants were asked to rate their perceived clarity of the wording of the claim using a 5 point likert scale (a subjective measure of understanding). Second, participants were ask to rate, on 5 point likert scales, the perceived benefit of consuming the mock package for subgroups with different health conditions (an indirect measure of understanding). Finally we asked participants, in an open ended question, to explain what a claim means to a friend (an objective measure of understanding).

Time frame: On average the survey took 25 minutes to complete

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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