The effect of energy and fat content labeling on food consumption pattern: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Context: Consumption of high-energy food has increased globally, thereby leading to an increase in many diseases. One strategy for addressing this is to make people aware of their energy intake through energy and fat labels. However, the effectiveness of this remains debatable.

Objective: This review aims to pool the mixed outcomes of recent studies assessing the effect of energy and fat content labeling on food consumption pattern.

Data Sources: Google Scholar, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library databases were searched. Randomized controlled and quasi-experimental controlled trials published from 2014 to 2019 were included.

Data Extraction: Two reviewers screened 413 abstracts independently. Qualitative and quantitative data was extracted from 10 articles; meta-analysis was carried out on 6 of those studies.

Results: The majority of the included papers were conducted in the regions of America, the Western Pacific, and Europe. Overall, the 6 studies claimed that labeling did not reduce the consumption of energy or fat. However, meta-analysis showed that fat and energy content labeling of food had a statistically significant effect on consumption. Subgroup analysis showed no difference with respect to types of labels, ie, context labeling vs traffic-light labeling, but energy content labels seemed to be more effective than fat content labels in influencing healthy food choices.

Conclusion: Energy and fat content labeling were shown to reduce the consumption of each significantly. However, the outcome was influenced by the study setting and the population concerned. There is a need for research in other regions in order to assess the global effectiveness of nutrition labels on food consumption.

Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO registration no. CRD42020172675.