EFFECTS OF FRONT-OF-PACKAGE NUTRITION LABEL SIZE AND INFORMATION ON VISUAL ATTENTION AND FOOD CHOICES AMONG OLDER ADULTS

This study evaluated the impact of the size of the black magnifier front-of-package (FOP) nutrition warning label and prior exposure to information about the new Brazilian FOP labeling system on visual attention and food choices among Brazilian women consumers aged 60 years or older, predominantly with low educational level and income. A total of 163 consumers were recruited from a community senior center and randomly assigned to four approximately equal experimental groups: ONIN (original FOP without prior information), ENIN (enlarged FOP without prior information), OWIN (original FOP with prior information), and EWIN (enlarged FOP with prior information). Participants were instructed to imagine they were shopping for snack foods in a supermarket and selected up to five products from an experimental shelf while wearing eye-tracking glasses (Pupil® Labs GmbH, Berlin, Germany). The shelf included fruits, bakery products, biscuits, refrigerated products such as cream cheese, ham, cheese, and margarine, and beverages commonly available in the Brazilian market. Two versions of each product, representing different brands or product types, were displayed. Fruits were the most frequently selected products, particularly bananas (78%) and apples (46%). Only 36% of participants avoided products displaying the black magnifier warning label. Among those who selected at least one warning labeled product (64%), traditional cream cheese carrying a "high in saturated fat" was the most frequently chosen (44%). Only 19% of participants returned at least one product to the shelf after selecting it, and only six consulted the back-of-pack information. Furthermore, only 39% visually fixated on the warning labels. No significant differences were observed among the experimental conditions regarding the proportion of products selected (p = 0.076), indicating that neither doubling the size of the FOP nutrition warning label nor providing prior video-based information about the warning system influenced participants' food choices.