1. Introduction
obesity, lifestyle-related diseases, FOP
OBESITY
These authors contributed equally to this work.Nutrition labeling on the front of food packages has been implemented worldwide to help improve public health awareness. In this randomized double-blind controlled trial, we used a Google Forms questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition labeling on food packages in university students. The questionnaire, ultimately completed by 247 students, included 15 dietary images from which they were asked to choose what they wanted to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the following day. For the interventional (traffic light food [TLF]) group only, TLF labels were displayed on dietary images. This group had a significantly higher proportion of people conscious of healthy eating during all meals than the control group, and the effect of TLF labeling on choosing meals was the highest for lunch. In addition to the indicated nutritional components, the TLF group had a significantly higher proportion of people who were conscious of the ones of protein and dietary fiber that were not indicated on the label. The use of TLF labels resulted in an increase in the proportion of people choosing a healthy diet as well as being conscious of their nutritional components. Therefore, the use of TLF labels may help promote healthy dietary choices in Japan.The increasing prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases is a global concern. In particular, the incidence of obesity has been reported to be remarkably increased [As a specific policy, the method of labeling nutritional information on the front of food packages (front of pack [FOP]) is implemented mainly in European countries [Through the use of TLF labels, consumers can visually select healthy foods when shopping for groceries [Regarding the current situation in Japan, it has been reported that the incidence of obesity increases with age from the 20s [Therefore, we have conducted a randomized controlled trial for diet selection using Japanese university students to verify the effectiveness of the TLF nutrition label displayed on the front of food packaging. The specific research objectives were to determine (1) whether the use of TLF labels on the FOP increases people’s choices of healthy meals, (2) whether their effects are consistent across three meal timings in one day, and (3) whether they can increase people’s awareness about food components, such as calories, sugar, and saturated fats.To the best of our knowledge, this is the first intervention study to examine the utility of FOPL in Japanese university students.