Impact of Front-of-package Labels on Weight Bias Among Latines

Impact of Front-of-package Labels on Weight Bias Among Latine and Limited English Proficiency Populations

The goal of this experiment is to examine the effects on explicit weight bias of a selection task using 4 different types of front-of-package food labels to select healthy or unhealthy foods among a sample of Latine and low English proficiency adults. The main questions this experiment aims to answer are:

• Does the use of different front-of-package label designs in a selection task lead to different effects on explicit weight bias among Latine and low English proficiency consumers?
• Does the use of different front-of-package label designs in a selection task lead to different effects on attribution of personal responsibility for body weight among Latine and low English proficiency consumers?

Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 4 types of front-of-package label designs. They will view 3 sets of products (frozen meals, frozen pizzas, and frozen desserts), shown in random order. For each product set, participants will view 3 products shown in random arrangement, each with participants' randomly assigned label shown on the front of package. After viewing all 3 product types, participants will answer questions about explicit weight bias and attribution of responsibility for body weight. Researchers will compare results across label designs.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Weight Prejudice
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Interpretive text-only label; Behavioral: Interpretive magnifying glass icon label; Behavioral: Numerical label; Behavioral: Separated interpretive magnifying glass icon label

Detailed Description

This study aims to determine if the use of different front-of-package label types in a selection task leads to different effects on explicit weight bias and attribution of responsibility for body weight among Latine and low English proficiency (LEP) consumers. A Latine-focused panel company will recruit 4,000 US Latine adults of parental age (18-55 years), approximately 50% of whom will have low English proficiency (LEP). In a between-subjects experiment, researchers will randomize participants to 1 of 4 types of front-of-package labels: a numerical label, an interpretive text-only label, an interpretive label with a magnifying glass icon, or separated interpretive labels with a magnifying glass icon. Participants will first perform a selection task for a parent study in which they will view their assigned label on 3 sets of products (with 3 products per set) and select the product they believe is most and least healthy and the product they most want to purchase. After this selection task, participants will answer questions measuring this study's outcomes: explicit weight bias (primary outcome) and attribution of personal responsibility of body weight (secondary outcome).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 3306
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, 27599
      • The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Identifying as Latine or Hispanic
• Ages 18-55 years old
• Residing in the United States

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not identifying as Latine or Hispanic
• Less than 18 or greater than 55 years old
• Not residing in the United States

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Numerical label	Behavioral: Numerical label; Labels that list the amount and percent of daily value of added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat, modeled after Guideline Daily Amounts labels.
Experimental: Interpretive text-only label	Behavioral: Interpretive text-only label; Interpretive text-only labels that state when a product contains high amounts of added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat.
Experimental: Interpretive magnifying glass icon label	Behavioral: Interpretive magnifying glass icon label; Interpretive labels that state when a product contains high amounts of added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat, containing a magnifying glass icon.
Experimental: Separated interpretive magnifying glass icon label	Behavioral: Separated interpretive magnifying glass icon label; Interpretive labels that state when a product contains high amounts of added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat, containing a magnifying glass icon. Each nutrient will be on a separate label.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Explicit weight bias, mean score	Explicit weight bias will be measured by survey through a six-item scale. Items will present participants with adjective pairs and ask that they select the box closest to the adjective that they feel best describes their feelings and beliefs about people with obesity: (1) lazy - hard-working, (2) no will power - has will power, (3) good self - control - poor self-control, (4) active - inactive, (5) dislikes food - likes food, (6) undereats - overeats. Response options, which will be presented as 5 boxes between adjectives, will be coded in a categorical 1-5 range where higher scores represent higher endorsement of a stereotype that contributes to weight bias. Each participant's responses to each item will then be averaged across the 7 items to obtain their final score on the outcome in a 1-5 range, where higher scores represent higher explicit weight bias.	Immediately after exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Attribution of personal responsibility for body weight, mean score	Attribution of personal responsibility for body weight will be measured by survey through a two-item scale. Items will ask participants how much they agree with two statements: (1) People with obesity are responsible for their weight; (2) People with obesity are to blame for their weight. Response options will be on a 5-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree, with higher scores representing higher agreement. Each participant's responses to each item will be averaged to obtain their final score on the outcome in a 1-5 range, where higher scores represent higher attribution of personal responsibility for body weight.	Immediately after exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Collaborators: Duke University; Stanford University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Aline D'Angelo Campos, MPP, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 9, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 11, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): September 11, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 27, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 27, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): March 5, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 5, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 3, 2024
• Last Verified: August 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Body Weight; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Autonomic Agents; Peripheral Nervous System Agents; Neurotransmitter Agents; Membrane Transport Modulators; Adrenergic Agents; Central Nervous System Stimulants; Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; Neurotransmitter Uptake Inhibitors; Dopamine Agents; Adrenergic Uptake Inhibitors; Sympathomimetics; Methamphetamine
• Other Study ID Numbers: 24-0300b

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: The Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan will be shared prior to data collection. After data collection and analysis, a de-identified version of individual participant data and the analytic code will be shared through the Open Science Framework (OSF).
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: The Study Protocol and SAP will be available by mid-March 2024 (prior to data collection). IPD and analytic code will become available after data collection and analysis.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Open access.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No