References to home-made and natural foods on the labels of ultra-processed products increase healthfulness perception and purchase intention: Insights for policy making

As nutritional recommendations change, new marketing strategies are expected to appear on food labels to convey the idea that products are healthful and aligned with the recommendations. In this context, the objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of references to 'home-made', images of natural foods and nutritional warnings on consumers' healthfulness perception and purchase intention of labels of ultra-processed products with excessive content of nutrients associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The study was conducted with 790 Uruguayan Facebook users (65% female, 18-89 years old), diverse in terms of educational and socio-economic levels. A choice experiment involving labels of four categories of ultra-processed products (burgers, cookies, instant soup and instant vanilla milk custard) was implemented. For each product category, eight sets of two labels differing in the presence of references to home-made, images of natural foods and nutritional warnings were designed. Half of the participants were asked to indicate the healthier product, whereas the other half were asked to indicate the product they would purchase. Data were analyzed using mixed logit models. The inclusion of references to home-made and images of natural foods on the labels had a positive effect on purchase intention and tended to create the belief that products were healthful. Nutritional warnings decreased healthfulness perception and discouraged participants' choice. In three of the product categories images of natural foods created a health halo that reduced the effect of nutritional warnings on product choice. Results from the present work suggest the need to develop stricter labelling regulations for ultra-processed products with high content of nutrients associated with NCDs.

Automated summary

The study found that references to 'home-made' and images of natural foods on food labels can increase purchase intention and consumer perception of product healthfulness, while nutritional warnings can decrease healthfulness perception and discourage product choice. In some product categories, images of natural foods can mitigate the impact of nutritional warnings on product selection. The results suggest the need for stricter labeling regulations for ultra-processed products with high content of nutrients associated with non-communicable diseases.