Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Am J Prev Med. 2021 Sep;61(3):377-385. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2021.03.013. Epub 2021 Jun 5.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act required chain retail food establishments, including supermarkets, to post calorie information for prepared (i.e., ready to eat) foods. Implementation of calorie labeling could spur companies to reduce the calorie content of prepared foods, but few studies have explored this. This study evaluates the changes in the calorie content of prepared foods at 2 large U.S. supermarket chains after they implemented calorie labels in April 2017.
The chains (≈1,200 stores) provided data on the calorie content and labeling status of all items sold between July 2015 and January 2019. In 2021, analyses used a difference-in-differences approach to examine the changes in the calorie content of prepared bakery, entree, and deli items introduced before calorie labeling to those introduced after the labeling compared with changes in similar foods not subject to the new labeling requirement. Primary analyses examined continuously available items; exploratory analyses examined items newly introduced to the marketplace.
Relative to changes in comparison foods not subject to the labeling requirement, continuously available prepared bakery items decreased by 7.7 calories per item after calorie labels were implemented (95% CI= -12.9, -2.5, p=0.004, ≈0.5% reduction). In exploratory analyses, prepared bakery items introduced after calorie labeling contained 440 fewer calories per item than those introduced before calorie labeling (95% CI= -773.9, -106.1, p=0.01, ≈27% reduction), driven by reductions in product size. No changes were observed in the calorie content of continuously available or newly introduced prepared entrees or deli items.
Implementing calorie labels could encourage product reformulation among some types of prepared supermarket foods. These supply-side changes could lead to reductions in caloric intake.
2010 年平价医疗法案要求连锁零售食品店（包括超市）为准备好的（即即食）食品张贴卡路里信息。实施卡路里标签可能会促使公司降低准备好的食品的卡路里含量，但很少有研究探讨过这一点。本研究评估了 2017 年 4 月两家美国大型连锁超市实施卡路里标签后，准备好的食品卡路里含量的变化。
这些连锁店（约 1200 家门店）提供了 2015 年 7 月至 2019 年 1 月期间销售的所有商品的卡路里含量和标签状态数据。2021 年，分析采用差异中的差异方法，比较在实施卡路里标签之前引入的准备好的面包店、主菜和熟食项目与在标签之后引入的类似食品的卡路里含量变化，以及不受新标签要求约束的同类食品的变化。主要分析考察了连续供应的项目；探索性分析考察了新引入市场的项目。
与不受标签要求约束的比较食品的变化相比，在实施卡路里标签后，连续供应的准备好的面包店项目每个项目的卡路里含量减少了 7.7 卡路里（95%置信区间= -12.9，-2.5，p=0.004，约 0.5%的降幅）。在探索性分析中，实施卡路里标签后引入的准备好的面包店项目每个项目的卡路里含量比实施卡路里标签前减少了 440 卡路里（95%置信区间= -773.9，-106.1，p=0.01，降幅约 27%），这主要是由于产品尺寸缩小。连续供应或新引入的准备好的主菜或熟食项目的卡路里含量没有变化。
实施卡路里标签可能会鼓励某些类型的准备好的超市食品进行产品配方改革。这些供应方的变化可能会导致热量摄入减少。
