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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
The influence of the Nutri-Score on the perceived healthiness of foods labelled with a nutrition claim of sugar
Contributor:
Jürkenbeck, Kristin;
Mehlhose, Clara;
Zühlsdorf, Anke
imprint:
Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2022
Published in:
PLOS ONE, 17 (2022) 8, Seite e0272220
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272220
ISSN:
1932-6203
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:p>High sugar intake in humans is associated with the development of overweight and other diet-related diseases. The World Health Organization and other health organizations recommend limiting the sugar intake to 10% of the total energy intake. There have been different approaches of front-of-pack labelling to reduce the amount of sugar in food products. Companies use nutrition claims to advertise the sugar content (e.g., without added sugar, 30% less sugar). Such nutrition claims can lead to false assumptions about the healthiness of foods and can lead to health-halo effects. Nutrition claims make products appear healthier than they really are, the aspect advertised in the nutrition claim is transferred to the entire food product. As a result, food products can be perceived as healthy even though they are not. Recently, the Nutri-Score was introduced in an increasing number of countries throughout Europe to provide consumers with an overview of the overall nutritional quality of a product. This study analyzes if the Nutri-Score can help to prevent health-halo effects caused by nutrition claims on sugar. Therefore, an online survey consisting of a split-sample design with more than 1,000 respondents was assessed. The results show that, depending on the initial perceived healthiness of a product, the Nutri-Score is able to prevent health-halo effects caused by claims on sugar. Making the Nutri-Score mandatory when using nutrition claims would be one possible way to reduce misperceptions about unhealthy food and reduce health-halo effects caused by claims on sugar.</jats:p>