Testing Ultraprocessed Food Labels in Chile

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Diet, Healthy

• Registration Number: NCT06842680
• Lead Sponsor: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Brief Summary

The goal of this experiment is to examine the effects of a warning label signaling that a product is ultraprocessed among a sample of Chilean parents. The main questions this experiment aims to answer are:

Do ultraprocessed warning labels on their own impact product purchase intentions?

Do ultraprocessed warning labels impact product purchase intentions in the presence of nutrient warning labels?

Do ultraprocessed warning labels help more consumers identify ultraprocessed foods?

Participants will be randomly assigned to a control arm or an ultraprocessed warning label arm. In both arms, products will carry nutrient warning labels, which are Chile's current policy. Participants will see three similar products, all of which will be ultraprocessed: one not high in any nutrients of concern, one high in sodium, and one high in sodium and saturated fat. For each product, participants will rate their purchase intentions and indicate whether they believe the product to be ultraprocessed. Researchers will compare results across arms.

Detailed Description

Participants will complete an online randomized experiment programmed in Qualtrics. After providing informed consent, participants will be randomly assigned to one of two arms: control (i.e., no ultraprocessed warning label) arm or ultraprocessed warning label arm. In both arms, products will carry nutrient warning labels, which are Chile's current policy.

In random order, participants will see three similar mock bags of potato chips. All products seen will be ultraprocessed, and thus carry an ultraprocessed warning label in the ultraprocessed warning label arm. Additionally, one of the products will not be high in any nutrients of concern, one product will be high in sodium, and one product will be high in sodium and saturated fat. For each product, participants will rate their purchase intentions, perceived healthfulness, and indicate whether they believe the product to be ultraprocessed.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2025-02-18
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-02-18
• Study First Posted: 2025-02-24
• Status Verified: 2025-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-04-21
• Last Update Posted: 2025-04-23
• Study Start: 2025-05
• Primary Completion: 2025-05
• Study Completion: 2025-05

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 3306

Inclusion Criteria

• 18 years or older
• Parent or guardian of child between 2-14 years old who has never been diagnosed with diabetes, high blood sugar, pre-diabetes or insulin resistance
• Residing in Chile

Exclusion Criteria

• Less than 18 years old
• Not parent or guardian of child between 2-14 years old who has never been diagnosed with diabetes, high blood sugar, pre-diabetes or insulin resistance
• Not residing in Chile

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Purchase intentions, mean score	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.	How likely the participant would be to buy products will be measured by survey. Response options will be on a 5-point scale from "very unlikely" (coded as 1) to "very likely" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing a higher likelihood of buying products.
Correct identification of products as ultraprocessed	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.	Correct identification of products as ultraprocessed will be measured by survey. Response will be coded in a dichotomous 0-1 range, where 1 indicates that the participant correctly identified the products as ultraprocessed and 0 indicates that the participant did not correctly identify the products as ultraprocessed.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Perceived product healthfulness, mean score	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.	How good or bad it would be to consume the product every day will be measured by survey. Response options will be on a 5-point scale from "very bad" (coded as 1) to "very good" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing a higher perceived product healthfulness.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health; 🇺🇸 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States