Research: Traffic light food labels strengthen self-control

Should food products be labeled with traffic light symbols to make health-related information on ingredients easier to understand? This question has remained a subject of debate. Now researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany have reached the conclusion that the traffic light label is more effective in helping consumers resist high-calorie foods than a purely information-based label containing the traditional information on grams and percentages of the particular ingredients.
The researchers observed study participants in the brain scanner as they made purchase decisions. An article about the research is published in Obesity (Press Release University of Bonn, 9 March 2015).
Click here for the press release.
Click here for an abstract of the published article.

If you have any questions about this subject, please contact us: info@nvc.nl, +31-(0)182-512411. This item is also included in our monthly overview, the NVC Members-only Update.