Nutrition Labelling Education Program in Socioeconomically Vulnerable Areas
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18+
SponsorUniversity of Paris 13
About this trial
Front-of-pack nutrition labels (FoPLs) have been adopted in many countries to help consumers rapidly assess the nutritional quality of foods and to encourage healthier choices. Among these schemes, interpretive systems such as Nutri-Score appear particularly promising, as their graphic design improves understanding and use compared with more complex or purely numerical formats. In France, where social inequalities in diet-related chronic diseases are pronounced, implementing and effectively using FoPLs is especially challenging in socioeconomically vulnerable areas. Seine-Saint-Denis, a department with a markedly higher prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases than the national average, offers a relevant setting to test prevention strategies embedded within routine care. The PEANUTS project is a quasi-experimental before-after interventional study conducted in primary care and hospital outpatient settings, with later extension to the social sector. It aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief, literacy-sensitive nutrition education program focused on on-pack nutrition information (Nutri-Score, nutrition facts panel, claims and marketing elements) on self-efficacy, food literacy and the nutritional quality of purchase intentions among adults living in vulnerable territories.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
Respondents must be aged 18
No formal income criterion is applied; Participants are considered as low-income (justified by the fact that the study is conducted in an area known to be socioeconomically vulnerable).
Disqualifiers
Subjects who are homeless
Subjects who depend exclusively on food aid (Subjects never engaging in grocery shopping)
Subjects living outside of mainland France
French language comprehension will be assessed at baseline using functional health literacy questions in the inclusion questionnaire. Insufficient French literacy will not be used as an exclusion criterion at enrolment. Nevertheless, if analyses show that participants who do not speak and read French have outcome scores that are substantially and systematically lower than those of the rest of the sample, these participants may be excluded from planned sensitivity analyses to preserve data quality and comparability.
Trial design
Design model
Single group
Treatments tested in this trial
Peanuts
BehavioralAt the beginning of each session, facilitators perform a brief educational assessment to select the most appropriate level for the group, allowing flexible adaptation of content to heterogeneous literacy levels. Sessions systematically include two components: (1) an active discussion phase to convey key information, followed by (2) a practical "learning by doing" phase designed to foster autonomy in using nutrition labelling tools. Phase 1 (≈12 months) will take place in municipal primary care centers in Seine-Saint-Denis, and delivered by advanced practice nurses and dietitians (≥10 expected). During this phase, qualitative feedback (e.g. spontaneously raised questions, strategies used to manage group heterogeneity) will be collected to inform the training of non-expert facilitators. Phase 2 will extend implementation to social services and community-based organizations, where trained social workers and volunteers will deliver the same modular program, supporting capacity-building in
Treatment groups
400 Participants
are divided into 1 treatment groupGroup A: InterventionExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Self-efficacy in choosing food products in the supermarket
Measured through a series of 6 items rated on a 5 point Likert scale. The final score will range from 6 to 30 points. Higher scores mean higher self-efficacy
Time frame
Pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 1-month follow-upSecondary outcomes
1
Nutritional quality of purchase intentions
Respondents will select one food product from 8 options within each of the two choice set, scored from 1 (lower nutritional quality product - Nutri-Score E) to 5 (higher nutritional quality - Nutri-Score A).
Time frame
Pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up2
Food literacy
Food literacy score (three subscales). * Food selection: Ability to interpret on-pack nutrition information, assessed through two objective understanding tasks (selecting, among eight products, two products with the best nutritional quality). For each objective understanding task, responses are rated between 0 and 4 points, leading to a sub-scale ranging from 0 to 8 (0-lower understanding; 8 higher understanding) * Meal planning and budgeting: two items on food organisation and budget management, rated on a 5-point Likert scale (from 0 to 4 points). The subscale ranges between 0 and 8 points (0-lower planning and budgeting skills- 8-Higher) * Food safety, preparation and cooking: two items on hygiene, preparation and cooking, rated on a 5-point scale. (from 0 to 4 points).The subscale ranges between 0 and 8 points (0-lower food safety, preparation and cooking skills- 8-Higher) Final summary score (sum of subscales) ranges from 0 (low literacy) to 24 (high literacy)
Time frame
Pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 1-month follow-upSponsors and contacts
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Source ClinicalTrials.gov