Bad dietary habits are among the main causes of increasing obesity and other health problems. Acc... more Bad dietary habits are among the main causes of increasing obesity and other health problems. According to the literature, information asymmetry and cognitive biases may lead to suboptimal decisions by individuals regarding food consumption. Many countries have implemented different forms of nutritional labelling in order to provide individuals with better information when making choices. We assess the Multiple Traffic Light (MTL) system, an alternative and simplified labelling format implemented in the UK. Although this system has been found to significantly improve consumer’s understanding of nutritional quality, evidence regarding its effect on actual choices is scarce and uncertain. In order to evaluate this format’s effectiveness on consumer decisions, we conduct a selection experiment with a particular sample: university students in a developing country. Our results show that the proposed nutritional labeling system has a significant positive effect on the nutritional quality ...
According to a recent report from the World Health Organization [WHO] (2016), the global incidenc... more According to a recent report from the World Health Organization [WHO] (2016), the global incidence of obesity has more than doubled since 1980. In 2014, 39% of adults in the world were overweight, while an alarming 13% were obese. These conditions may lead to several health problems (e.g., cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes and several types of cancer), especially when they start during childhood or adolescence (WHO, 2016). This alarming trend has several social costs. For instance, obesity is responsible for roughly 5% of global deaths and its economic burden is estimated to be around 2.8% of the world's GDP, which is equivalent to the impact from smoking or armed violence (McKinsey Global Institute, 2014). Moreover, many low-and middle-income countries are becoming increasingly vulnerable to this problem, which adds to the already poor nutritional conditions of their populations (Popkin, Adair, & Ng, 2011). Although the main cause of obesity is excessive consumption of food with high contents of fat and sugar, low-quality
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