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How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts?

Nutrients · 8 authors, 4 centres

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TL;DR

This study compared correlations between various front-of-pack labels (FOPLs) and dietary scales with eight environmental sustainability indicators using a composite index. It found that healthy and sustainable diets like the Mediterranean diet showed strong correlations, while FOPLs based on 100g showed weak correlations, and FOPLs based on portions showed moderate correlations.

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This study investigated correlations between several FOPLs, nutrient profiling tools, and known healthy/sustainable diets with multiple environmental impact indicators. Methods: The researchers compiled a list of 182 food items and their environmental impact data (e.g., carbon footprint, land use) from three published life-cycle assessment studies. They calculated healthiness ranks for each food according to five FOPLs/nutrient profiling systems (Nutri-Score, Health Star Rating, NutrInform Battery, Health Canada Surveillance Tool, Israeli labels) and three validated diets (Mediterranean, Italian Guidelines, EAT-Lancet). A composite environmental index (FS-MPI) was developed. Spearman correlations and cluster analyses were performed. Key Results: Healthy/sustainable diets showed strong correlations with environmental indicators (e.g., Mediterranean diet R=0.738 with FS-MPI). FOPLs based on reference portions (NutrInform Battery, Health Canada) showed moderate correlations (e.g., NutrInform Battery R=0.497 with FS-MPI), while FOPLs based on a 100g standard (Nutri-Score, Health Star Rating) showed weak correlations (e.g., Health Star Rating R=0.185 with FS-MPI). Environmental data were aggregated from three source studies, which evaluated food subgroups differently. Implications: The results suggest that FOPLs based on portion sizes are more likely to correlate with both health and sustainability than those based on a 100g standard.

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other

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nutrition

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ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10005439

How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts?

Nutrients

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ABSTRACT

Nutrient profiling and front-of-pack labeling (FOPL) have been developed to categorize food products as more or less healthy based on their nutrient content and to easily communicate this information to consumers. The goal is to change individual food choices toward a healthier diet. Since global climate change has recently become an urgent matter, this paper also aims to investigate the correlations between different food health scales, including some FOPLs currently adopted by one or more countries, and several sustainability indicators. For this purpose, a food sustainability composite index has been developed to summarize environmental indicators and compare food scales. Results indicate, as expected, that well-known healthy and sustainable diets are strongly correlated with both environmental indicators and the composite index, while FOPLs based on portions or on 100 g show moderate and weak correlation values, respectively. Within-category analysis has not found any associations that explain these results. Hence, 100 g standard, on which FOPLs are usually developed, seems not to be the ideal basis for developing a label that aspires to communicate healthiness and sustainability in a unique format, as required by the need for simple messaging. On the contrary, FOPLs based on portions appear to be more likely to achieve this goal.

CITATION EXPORT

Luca Muzzioli, Lorenzo Maria Donini, Matteo Mazziotta et al.. How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts?. Nutrients. (2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15051176

AUTHORS

8 · 4 CENTRES

Luca Muzzioli, Lorenzo Maria Donini, Matteo Mazziotta, Marco Iosa, Francesco Frigerio, Eleonora Poggiogalle, Andrea Lenzi, Alessandro Pinto

1Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy
2Italian National Institute of Statistics, 00184 Rome, Italy
3Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy
4Santa Lucia Foundation, IRCSS, 00179 Rome, Italy