Attitudes and Understanding of Plant Sterol Claims on Food Labels

August 27, 2013 updated by: Mary R. L'Abbé, University of Toronto

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

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

1017

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Guelph, Ontario, Canada
        • University of Guelph

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years to 69 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

A subsection of the Canadian Consumer Monitor Panel - a national representative online consumer panel comprised of 30,000 Canadians

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

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

Exclusion Criteria:

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

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Canadian Consumer Monitor Panel
Canadian Consumer Monitor Panel is an online panel which answer surveys every 8-10 weeks about diet and health
Behavioral: Mock package questionnaire
Within a online questionnaire we exposed participants randomly to 4 mock margarine packages differing only by the claim it carried and asked participants to answer several questions on attitudes and understanding after each mock package.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Response to survey questions measuring attitudes towards plant sterol claims using 5-point likert rating scales
Time Frame: 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.
On average the survey took 25 min to complete
Response to survey questions evaluating participants understanding of plant sterol claims
Time Frame: 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).
On average the survey took 25 minutes to complete

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Toronto

Collaborators

Advance Foods and Materials Network

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 27, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 27, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

August 30, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 30, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 27, 2013

Last Verified

August 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AFMnet-01

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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