Attitudes and Understanding of Plant Sterol Claims on Food Labels

Completed

• Conditions: General Population; Consumer Research
• Interventions: Behavioral: Mock package questionnaire

• Registration Number: NCT01932840
• Lead Sponsor: University of Toronto

Brief Summary

Daily consumption of plant sterols have been demonstrated to lower blood cholesterol. The Canadian government has recently allowed plant sterols to be added to certain foods and has also approved a disease risk reduction claim to be allowed on products containing plant sterols. However, it is unknown how Canadian consumers respond to plant sterol claims.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the attitudes and understanding of different types of plant sterol claims on food labels

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2011-09
• Primary Completion: 2011-10
• Study Completion: 2011-10
• Status Verified: 2013-08
• Study First Submitted: 2013-08-27
• Study First Submitted QC: 2013-08-27
• Last Update Submitted: 2013-08-27
• Study First Posted: 2013-08-30
• Last Update Posted: 2013-08-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1017

Inclusion Criteria

• Primary grocery shoppers
• Canadian adults between the ages 20 to 69 years

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Exclusion Criteria

• Did not have an active email address or access to internet

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Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Canadian Consumer Monitor Panel	Mock package questionnaire	Canadian Consumer Monitor Panel is an online panel which answer surveys every 8-10 weeks about diet and health

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Response to survey questions measuring attitudes towards plant sterol claims using 5-point likert rating scales	On average the survey took 25 min to complete	Within a online survey, participants were exposed to 4 mock margarine 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 plant sterol claims using 5-point likert scales. Participants were also asked to rate their purchasing intentions of the mock margarine product with the different plant sterol claims.
Response to survey questions evaluating participants understanding of plant sterol claims	On average the survey took 25 minutes to complete	After each mock package, understanding of plant sterol 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 margarine 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).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Guelph; 🇨🇦 Guelph, Ontario, Canada