Warning Labels For Unhealthy Food Not So Effective Unless It's 'In-Your-Face'

Grocery shopping can be tricky when you're making an effort to go for healthier choices. Nutrition labels that aim to prevent people from choosing unhealthy food items only work if it's a direct "stop sign" warning, researchers have found.

For their study, which was published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, researchers looked at 23 meta-analyses of studies on the efficacy of nutrition labeling.

The idea, the researchers said, was to have a "comprehensive" view of previous studies on the topic. This "second-order meta-analysis" included the results of hundreds of international studies that involved about a million people, Deakin University noted in a news release.

"Nutrition labeling interventions are designed to provide consumers with easily interpretable nutritional information at the point of purchase," the researchers wrote. "Despite the widespread implementation of these interventions and numerous research studies, there is little consensus as to their effect on consumer behavior."

The researchers found that nutritional labels promoting healthy food products generally have more influence on consumers than the ones discouraging unhealthy ones, Deakin University noted.

When it comes to keeping consumers from buying unhealthy products, warning labels weren't really much effective. That is unless the labels were "in-your-face labels that say 'this is bad for you,'" the study's co-author, Chris Dubelaar of Deakin University, said, as per The Sydney Morning Herald.

"A basic food label that tells you something is not good for you doesn't work, people ignore it. Unless it has a big warning label on the front of that pack that explicitly says, 'this is going to hurt you', people will ignore it," Dublaar said in the Deakin University news release. "But telling people something is good for them, that's a different story. They will listen to that. Our research confirms that a promotion approach works better than a prevention approach."

For instance, Australia has a health star rating system wherein the labels of food products can be rated from half a star to five stars, with the healthier choices having more stars. Researchers found that this did encourage customers to go for healthy food items but did not stop them from opting for unhealthy ones.

On the other hand, countries like Israel, Peru and Chile have adopted front-of-pack "stop sign" warning labels for food and beverage products that are high in sugar, salt or saturated fat. In some cases, the warnings look literally like a stop sign, as they are inside black, octagon boxes.

These stop sign labels are the ones that had the largest impacts on consumption, the researchers found.

Such direct, front-of-pack warnings are also often mandatory. By comparison, for instance, the health star rating is voluntary, The Sydney Morning Herald said, noting that only 41% of eligible products were using it as of 2019. Companies with products that may have half-star ratings could then opt not to put them on the label.

"Companies say, 'Well, I don't want to put a half-star on my product'. Then consumers are left to fend for themselves," Dubelaar told the outlet.

As such, there have reportedly been calls to make the health star rating mandatory. So far, many food labels have so much information that they can be hard for consumers to understand, study lead author Natalina Zlatevska of University Technology Sydney said in the Deakin University news release.

"We need to make it very clear when food is bad for you," Zlatevska said. "Obesity is a global public health crisis and post-pandemic obesity levels are at record highs. We need to help people make a better decision about their food choices. The current labels don't work, and evidence-backed action is needed now."

In the U.S., the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have provided guides on how to understand the nutrition facts labels so people can make better choices. These include checking the serving size of the package and opting for products that are high in vitamins, minerals and fiber while eating fewer food items that are high in added sugar, sodium and saturated fat.