Recently published study looks at impact of nutrient profiles on nutrient intakes

July 19th, 2012

The Choices Programme has recently received a positive assessment in a study seeking to determine the potential impact of nutrient profiling – or the categorisation of food products according to their nutrient composition – on nutrient intakes.

Using key-nutrient (energy, trans-fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, sodium, added sugar and fibre) information obtained from studies and surveys in The Netherlands, Greece, Spain, the US, Israel, China and South Africa, researchers devised three Typical Daily Menus for each country.

Average intakes based on these three menus were then compared with average intakes from three Choices Daily Menus. To compose the Choices Menus, foods from the Typical Menus that did not comply with the Choices criteria were replaced with compliant foods available within each market. Comparisons showed that with the Choices Menus, intakes of each of the key nutrients decreased, except for an increased fibre intake. This shows that the Daily Menu Method successfully enables a quantitative calculation of the changes that nutrient profiles can have on a countries’ nutrient intake. Furthermore, it confirms that the Choices criteria are strict enough to potentially help move intakes in a direction that is more favourable for health.

AJC Roodenburg et al. (2011). Potential effects of nutrient profiles on nutrient intakes in the Netherlands, Greece, Spain, USA, Israel, China and South-Africa. PLoS ONE 6 (2)

Study qualifies Choices Programme as most restrictive nutrient profile model

July 19th, 2012

A study assessing 200 fine bakery products displaying on-pack nutrition or health-related communication was recently completed by Kraft Foods R&D and Justus-Leibig University’s Institute of Nutrition in Germany. It was published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in December 2010.

The study compares the health claims of fine bakery products, including cookies and crackers, commercially available in Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and the UK between January 2007 and December 2009, with the criteria of five nutrient profiling models: The Choices Programme, FDA, FSA/OFCOM, Smart Choices Programme and the French SAIN/LIM. Energy, saturated fat, sugar, sodium and fibre content were used to classify products.

For all models, more savoury than sweet products met the criteria, and overall the Choices Programme proved to be the most restrictive model. Indeed, it would only allow 6% of products with a healthier label image to also carry a positive front-of-pack logo.

The study concludes that nutrient profiles can be applied to fine bakery products that have a significantly better nutritional composition than the average range of products positioned as healthier.

For more information on Choices’ criteria please consult our Product Criteria.

Health-conscious employees could benefit from nutrition labeling at lunch

July 19th, 2012

New research conducted in 25 workplaces within The Netherlands concludes that the Choices logo does not have a notable effect on the sale of healthier lunch foods, but may help employees to opt for a healthier selection. A team of researchers led by Ellis Vyth looked at the effectiveness of the Choices logo in promoting healthier eating in workplace cafeterias, and the results were published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association last week.

Over a nine week period spanning from March to May 2009, sales data from thirteen cafeterias using the Choices logo was compared daily with 12 control cafeterias offering the same non-logo menu. In addition, 368 employees completed an online questionnaire, both at the beginning of research and following the period during which the logo was used. The results did not demonstrate a nutritionally meaningful effect on the sale of sandwiches, soups, snacks, fruit and salads. Nevertheless, the questionnaire data showed that health conscious employees might find the healthy choices labeling useful.

Therefore, nutrition logos should be viewed as useful tools for caterers in helping health conscious employees to select healthy options in cafeterias during lunch. Further research should focus on the possible health benefits of menu reformulation in the catering sector, as it may prove to be an effective way of reaching all types of employees.