Association between use of nutrition labels and healthy eating efforts before and after labeling policy changes in Mexico, 2019-2021.

OBJECTIVE

To examine associations between self-reported use of Nutrition Fact Tables (NFTs) and front-of-package nutrition labels (FoPNLs) with self-reported healthy eating efforts, and to assess whether these associations became stronger after Mexico replaced Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) with Warning Labels (WL).

METHODS

Data come from the 2019 and 2021 Mexico administration of the International Food Policy Study, a repeated cross-sectional online survey of adults aged 18-100 years (n = 8435). Participants reported use of FoPNLs and NFTs, and five healthy eating efforts: consume less calories, saturated fat, sugar, sodium, and non-sugar sweeteners. Adjusted logistic regression models estimated associations between reported label use and engagement in any healthy eating effort, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS

FoPNL use increased by 10.3 percentage points, and NFT use increased by 4.4 percentage points between 2019 and 2021. Participants who reported using NFTs and FoPNLs were more likely to engage in healthy eating efforts (OR range: 1.52-1.82). Associations between label use and healthy eating efforts did not differ by survey year.

CONCLUSIONS

Reported use of FoPNL and NFT increased after 2020 policy changes in Mexico. The association between self-reported label use and self-reported healthy eating efforts did not differ between 2019 and 2021.