Canada passed mandatory front-of-package labelling (FOPL) regulations where pre-packaged food and beverage products that are high in sugar, saturated fat, and/or sodium are required to display a 'high-in' front-of-pack nutrition symbol (NS). FOPL is an effective tool to inform consumers about products that can harm health and help guide their purchasing decisions. However, as the regulations are limited to the pre-packaged food supply and do not apply to restaurants and other food services, little is known about the potential impact of the NS in such settings. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to investigate the impact of the Canadian FOPL (i.e. the 'high-in' NS) as delivered through a mobile health (mHealth) app in a setting currently not subject to regulations. The study will take place on a post-secondary campus (University of Toronto) hosting students, a population vulnerable to poor dietary choices, nutritional knowledge, and associated weight gain. A 2-week long, randomized controlled trial with a 3-parallel arm study design will be conducted to explore the effect of the 'high-in' NS on students' purchasing behaviours and nutritional knowledge. Eligible participants will be randomly allocated into one of 3 intervention groups: no App control; App control with no NS; App with NS. Questionnaires will be used to assess nutritional knowledge, and receipts will be used to analyze purchasing behaviour.
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Purchasing Behaviors
Timeframe: 2 weeks
Nutritional Knowledge
Timeframe: 2 weeks