Testing Non-nutritive Sweetener Labels in Chile

Summary

The goal of this experiment is to examine the effects of 2 types of non-nutritive sweetener (NNS) warning labels among a sample of Chilean parents. The main questions this experiment aims to answer are:

Do non-nutritive sweetener warning labels improve consumers' ability to identify when a product contains non-nutritive sweeteners?

Do non-nutritive sweetener warning labels impact on consumers' selection of non-nutritive sweetener-sweetened, unsweetened, and/or sugar-sweetened products for their children?

Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 3 types of labels and view their assigned label on 3 sets of products. Each set will display 4 similar products: one unsweetened, one sweetened with sugar, one sweetened with non-nutritive sweeteners, and one sweetened with both sugar and non-nutritive sweeteners. For each set, participants will identify which product(s) contain NNS and select the product that they would purchase for their child. Researchers will compare results across label types.

Conditions

• Diet, Healthy

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Control

Products carry neutral control label when containing non-nutritive sweeteners. Additionally, to match the current Chilean legislation, products carry an octagonal label that states "high in sugar" when high in added sugars, and/or an octagonal label that states "high in calories" when high in calorie density.

BEHAVIORAL

Chilean non-nutritive sweetener label

Products carry rectangular label that states "contains non-nutritive sweeteners, not recommended for children" when containing non-nutritive sweeteners. Additionally, to match the current Chilean legislation, products carry an octagonal label that states "high in sugar" when high in added sugars, and/or an octagonal label that states "high in calories" when high in calorie density.

BEHAVIORAL

Colombian non-nutritive sweetener label

Products carry octagonal label that states "contains non-nutritive sweeteners " when containing non-nutritive sweeteners. Additionally, to match the current Chilean legislation, products carry an octagonal label that states "high in sugar" when high in added sugars, and/or an octagonal label that states "high in calories" when high in calorie density.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos

  collaborator OTHER

• Bloomberg Philanthropies

  collaborator OTHER

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Lindsey Smith Taillie, PhD · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-07-14

Primary Completion

2025-08-31

Completion

2025-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations