Does a diet that complies with the criteria of front-of-pack-labels help reduce cholesterol levels?

May 10th, 2012

On 16 November 2011, the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition published an article highlighting a recent modelling study assessing whether the consumption of a diet complying with front-of-pack label criteria could help reduce cholesterol levels.

National food consumption and food composition data were used to estimate the nutrient intake of the Dutch adult population (18–70 years) before and after replacing foods that did not comply with the Choices front-of-pack label criteria. Different scenarios were established, and tested by meta-analyses' equations that calculate how blood lipids are affected by changes in diet composition.

Independently of all other positive health outcomes, the results suggest that that the consumption of foods complying with the Choices criteria could contribute moderately to reducing cardiovascular risk by lowering blood lipid levels.