: Front of the pack warning can discourage people from making unhealthy choices: NIN study #IndiaNEWS #Health Hyderabad: Front-of-the-pack warning labels have the potential to discourage individuals

Front of the pack warning can discourage people from making unhealthy choices: NIN study #IndiaNEWS #Health
Hyderabad: Front-of-the-pack warning labels have the potential to discourage individuals from making unhealthy choices, a recent study conducted by the city-based National Institution of Nutrition (NIN), an institute of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), on Friday said.
These labels on packaged food products can deter choice and consumption of even moderately unhealthy foods, while summary ratings like health star or NutriScore helps identify healthier variants among the available foods, the study said.
The study has the potential to show the way forward to Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which is considering to implement a symbol-based Front-of-Pack Nutritional Labels (FOPNL) in the near future.
The countrywide study, covering 3231 participants was taken up to understand the acceptability and potential use of different formats of FOPNL in promoting informed food choices. Warning labels provide information about potential hazards associated with the product as they take into consideration the nutrients of concern like sugars, fats and salt. Summary labels, on the other hand, provide a brief and concise overview of the products key features and benefits, often including information about positive as well as negative nutrients, the study said.
In India, the FSSAI is considering to implement a symbol-based FOPNL. However, context specific evidence on the effectiveness of FOPNL is needed to inform ongoing advocacy and regulatory processes in India. The decision to which type of FOPNL should be used in a country should be based on the local research, along with regional and global evidence, and in consideration of each country’s specific objectives for developing a FOPNL policy, NIN officials, in a press release, said.
As part of the study, the NIN tested different formats of FOPNL that are being implemented in different countries globally either voluntarily or by mandatory implementation. The study tested five FOPNL formats including Nutri-score (NS) (Europe), Health Star Rating (HSR) (Australia), Warning Labels (WL), Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL) and Nutri-star Rating (NSR).
In the study, it was observed that even though the percentage of participants reading nutrition information is low, the participants checking the veg/non veg symbols and quality symbols was higher. Therefore, FOPNL on pre-packaged processed foods are likely to have good uptake among the Indian population as they are symbol-based.
“The uniqueness of the study is also that the FOPNL formats were used on different variants of the mock packs of the same food. Unlike in other studies, different foods were not used to depict different labels.

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