Physical activity-equivalent label reduces consumption of discretionary snack foods

Abstract

Objective: The present research aimed to investigate the impact of the physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) front-of-pack label on consumption, prospective consumption and liking of familiar and unfamiliar discretionary snack foods.

Design: In a within-subject randomised design, participants tasted and rated liking (9-point hedonic scale) and prospective consumption (9-point category scale) of four different snack foods with four different labels (i.e. blank, fake, PACE, PACE doubled) and four control snack foods. The twenty snack foods were presented during two 45 min sessions (i.e. ten snack foods per session) which were separated by one week. The amount participants sampled of each snack food was measured.

Setting: The study was conducted in the Centre for Advanced Sensory Sciences laboratory at Deakin University, Australia.

Subjects: The participants were 153 university students (126 females, twenty-seven males, mean age 24·3 (sd 4·9) years) currently enrolled in an undergraduate nutrition degree at Deakin University.

Results: When the PACE label was present on familiar snack foods, participants sampled 9·9 % (22·8 (sem 1·4) v. 25·3 (sem 1·5) g, P=0·03) less than when such label was not present. This was in line with a decreased prospective snack food consumption of 9·1 % (3·0 (sem 0·2) v. 3·3 (sem 0·2) servings, P=0·03). Such pattern was not seen in unfamiliar snacks.

Conclusions: The PACE label appears to be a promising way to decrease familiar discretionary snack food consumption in young, health-minded participants.

Keywords: Discretionary food; Energy intake; Food labelling; Physical activity; Snack consumption.

Fig. 1

Left to right: pictograms of Fake, PACE and PACE×2 labels presented on snack photos (PACE, physical activity calorie equivalent; PACE×2, PACE label with walking minutes doubled)

Fig. 2

Mean consumption (in grams; with standard error of the mean represented by vertical bars) of PACE-labelled (PACE and PACE×2; ) familiar (Honey Cashews and Nacho Cheese Shapes) and unfamiliar (Shrimp Peanut Crackers and Cheese Rice Crackers) snacks compared with non-PACE labelled (Blank and Fake; ) familiar and unfamiliar snacks among 153 university students (126 females, twenty-seven males, mean age 24·3 (sd 4·9) years) enrolled in an undergraduate nutrition degree at Deakin University, Australia. The PACE label decreased the consumption of familiar snack foods: *P<0·05 (PACE, physical activity calorie equivalent; PACE×2, PACE label with walking minutes doubled)

Fig. 3

Mean prospective consumption (number of servings; with standard error of the mean represented by vertical bars) of PACE-labelled (PACE and PACE×2; ) familiar (Honey Cashews and Nacho Cheese Shapes) and unfamiliar (Shrimp Peanut Crackers and Cheese Rice Crackers) snacks compared with non-PACE labelled (Blank and Fake; ) familiar and unfamiliar snacks among 153 university students (126 females, twenty-seven males, mean age 24·3 (sd 4·9) years) enrolled in an undergraduate nutrition degree at Deakin University, Australia. The PACE label decreased the prospective consumption of familiar snack foods: *P<0·05 (PACE, physical activity calorie equivalent; PACE×2, PACE label with walking minutes doubled)