Enhanced calorie labelling to improve employees’ diets in workplace cafeterias
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN20474205 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN20474205 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | N/A |
- Submission date
- 21/02/2018
- Registration date
- 23/02/2018
- Last edited
- 10/11/2020
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Nutritional, Metabolic, Endocrine
Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Current estimates suggest that about one-third of a working adult’s daily energy intake is consumed whilst at work, making the workplace a potentially important setting for dietary interventions. For this reason, many companies are keen to encourage healthy eating in the workplace through the range of products they offer, the way they present items and the way they choose to label health-related information. The environment has a distinct effect on food and drink choices, more so than people may recognise. There is a lot of interest in how so-called ‘nudge’ techniques can be used to change environments and prompt individuals to make healthier choices. However, so far there has been little research to study the impact of this type of intervention to improve employees' diets in the workplace. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of calorie labelling on food purchased in worksite cafeterias. A recent study examined the impact of calorie labelling on food purchased across six worksite cafeterias. No overall effect of calorie labelling was found on food purchased across the six sites. However, the calorie labelling reduced total calories purchased in one of the six sites, with an estimated 6.6% reduction. This effect diminished over time. There are several possible explanations for the mixed pattern of results observed across the six sites in the initial study. These include the nature of the intervention and the precision of the data collected. The aim of this study is to address these potential explanations in a replication and extension of the first study conducted in three different worksite cafeterias.
Who can participate?
Three English worksites from companies that are members of the Institute of Grocery Distribution with more than 300 employees
What does the study involve?
Participating sites introduce the intervention at two-week intervals in a carefully planned but random order. This intervention involves adding labels to foods which include the energy (calorie) content at the edge of the shelf, on the packet or other prominent position. For the six weeks before the intervention is introduced and then over the course of the intervention, information about the food sold in each of the workplace sites is collected in order to find out if the intervention has changed the way that people buy food.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
There are no direct benefits or risks involved for those participating
Where is the study run from?
The study is run from the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at the University of Cambridge and takes place at three English worksites from companies that are members of the Institute of Grocery Distribution (UK).
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
September 2017 to September 2018
Who is funding the study?
1. Institute of Grocery Distribution (UK)
2. Department of Health Policy Research Program (UK)
Who is the main contact?
Prof. Theresa Marteau
Contact information
Scientific
University of Cambridge
Institute of Public Health
Forvie Site
Cambridge
CB2 0SR
United Kingdom
 ORCID ID |
0000-0003-3025-1129 |
|---|
Study information
| Study design | Randomised stepped wedge design |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Stepped wedge design |
| Study setting(s) | Other |
| Study type | Prevention |
| Participant information sheet | Not available in web format, please use the contact details to request a patient information sheet |
| Scientific title | Calorie labelling and energy purchased in worksite cafeterias: a revised replication study |
| Study hypothesis | The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact on energy purchased by adding labels that clearly show the energy (calorie) content on items purchased from worksite cafeterias. |
| Ethics approval(s) | Cambridge Psychology Research Ethics Committee, 29/04/2016, ref: PRE.2016.035 |
| Condition | Excess energy intake |
| Intervention | Within the three worksites (with a minimum of 300 employees) the time at which the intervention is introduced will be determined by randomisation to control for time trends while maximising sample size. Sites will be randomised to a phase of the stepped wedge design by means of random permutations using random variates of the uniform distribution. There will be a six week pre-intervention period when normal service will continue while information is collected on the energy content of food available and on the sales each day. The sites will then undergo an intervention period lasting from six - ten weeks (depending on randomisation sequence within the stepped wedge design). Continued measures of the energy content of food available and the sales data throughout the intervention period will be used to model any changes from baseline levels. Follow-up after the intervention period ends is not planned. The intervention comprises labelling all cafeteria products for which calorie information is available with their energy content (e.g., “250 CALORIES”). Following the evaluation of the impact of the calorie labelling intervention in a previous study of ours, the aim is to enhance the presentation of calorie information in this replication and extension study. An initial scoping exercise provided some design features that could potentially enhance the understanding of the labels (on products, menus and shelf edging). Following this scoping exercise different label formats were pilot tested with the aim of enhancing the labels’ impact. The enhanced labelling intervention will comprise of: 1. Writing the calorie content, e.g. ‘120 CALORIES’, in bold, uppercase ‘Verdana’ (or similar) font, with a minimum font size of 14 2. Incorporating white space around the calorie content wording, in order to maximise contrast and therefore increase clarity The present study also involves closer monitoring of the sales data captured by the sites by the Research Assistant (including approximately 30 compliance visits at the worksites during the intervention period). |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | Total energy (kcal) purchased daily from intervention items, controlling for the total transactions as measured from daily sales records (recorded throughout the baseline and intervention periods). Data on the energy content of food and drink items will be supplied by the three participating sites, and data on sales will be obtained from the sites’ till records. |
| Secondary outcome measures | Number of items purchased daily from (a) intervention items, and (b) non-intervention items, controlling for the total transactions as measured from daily sales records (recorded throughout the baseline and intervention periods) Other measures: Covariates to be recorded and considered in analyses: worksite demographic characteristics; day of week; and weather conditions (daily average temperature) (all to be recorded throughout the baseline and intervention periods) |
| Overall study start date | 15/09/2017 |
| Overall study end date | 30/09/2018 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Other |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | The target number of sites is three (minimum 300 employees in each). |
| Total final enrolment | 2947 |
| Participant inclusion criteria | 1. English worksites from companies that are members of the Institute for Grocery Distribution (IGD) 2. More than 300 employees 3. Ability to provide daily data on sales of individual items and their energy content |
| Participant exclusion criteria | Sites not meeting the inclusion criteria |
| Recruitment start date | 06/03/2018 |
| Recruitment end date | 24/07/2018 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- England
- United Kingdom
Study participating centre
University of Cambridge
Institute of Public Health
Forvie Site
Cambridge
CB2 0SR
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
University/education
16 Mill Lane
Cambridge
CB2 1SB
England
United Kingdom
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/013meh722 |
|---|
Funders
Funder type
Government
No information available
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 01/09/2019 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Not expected to be made available |
| Publication and dissemination plan | 1. Planned submission of the main results of this study for publication in a high impact factor journal 2. Planned dissemination of the results to the public, policy makers and other researchers through targeted social media |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not expected to be made available because they are commercially sensitive and provided by the worksites on condition that they are not shared beyond the research team |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results article | results | 01/10/2019 | 10/11/2020 | Yes | No |
Editorial Notes
10/11/2020: The following changes have been made:
1. Publication reference added.
2. The final enrolment number has been added from the reference.
