Nutrient profiling for product reformulation: public health impact and benefits for the consumer

Abstract

The food industry holds great potential for driving consumers to adopt healthy food choices as (re)formulation of foods can improve the nutritional quality of these foods. Reformulation has been identified as a cost-effective intervention in addressing non-communicable diseases as it does not require significant alterations of consumer behaviour and dietary habits. Nutrient profiling (NP), the science of categorizing foods based on their nutrient composition, has emerged as an essential tool and is implemented through many different profiling systems to guide reformulation and other nutrition policies. NP systems should be adapted to their specific purposes as it is not possible to design one system that can equally address all policies and purposes, e.g. reformulation and labelling. The present paper discusses some of the key principles and specificities that underlie a NP system designed for reformulation with the example of the Nestlé nutritional profiling system. Furthermore, the impact of reformulation at the level of the food product, dietary intakes and public health are reviewed. Several studies showed that food and beverage reformulation, guided by a NP system, may be effective in improving population nutritional intakes and thereby its health status. In order to achieve its maximum potential and modify the food environment in a beneficial manner, reformulation should be implemented by the entire food sector. Multi-stakeholder partnerships including governments, food industry, retailers and consumer associations that will state concrete time-bound objectives accompanied by an independent monitoring system are the potential solution.

Evaluation of the Nutritional Quality of Processed Foods in Honduras: Comparison of Three Nutrient Profiles

“…The products that present mostly excess contents of various critical nutrients should be regulated in their offer and their advertising, as some countries have already done, as well as the implementation of frontal labeling, such as in Chile [ 20 ], Ecuador [ 38 ] and France [ 39 ], and thus be able to include dietary guidelines to promote a healthy and balanced diet, allowing the inclusion of prefabricated foods in a healthy and responsible way [ 40 ]. This should include basic studies regarding the consumption of nutrients in the population to identify the existence of a positive impact on the practice of food selection based on its nutritional quality.…”

A Comparison of the Nutritional Qualities of Supermarket’s Own and Regular Brands of Bread in Sweden

“…The HSR has since been shown to align broadly with the Australian dietary guidelines [25,26] and it has been increasingly adopted and showed to have a benefit on consumer understanding about the healthiness of foods, though clear effects on consumer purchases in supermarkets remain to be proved [27,28]. Nutrient profiling (e.g., HSR) may also have the potential to influence the food industry to reformulate their products to healthier ones [29,30].…”

Anticipatory effects of the implementation of the Chilean Law of Food Labeling and Advertising on food and beverage product reformulation

“…While many types of FOP nutrition labeling schemes exist to date, few studies, in countries other than Chile, have investigated the potential impact of FOP nutrition labeling initiatives on the reformulation of food and beverage products by industry through observational rather than predicted (modeling) studies; and all are based on positive labeling systems . Regarding the voluntary Health Star Rating (HSR) system FOP nutrition label in New Zealand, Ni Mhurchu et al found that between 2014 and 2016, some products that carried the HSR underwent healthier reformulation compared with similar products without an HSR .…”

“…7,8 Food and beverage product reformulation is one means to make unhealthy products healthier, thus contributing to wider prevention efforts to help prevent nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases. [9][10][11][12] The main advantage of using government policies to promote food and beverage product reformulation is that it overcomes the different definitions and targets for reformulation policies by each industry actor. Hawkes et al view reformulation as a food-systems response for obesity prevention.…”

“…31 While many types of FOP nutrition labeling schemes exist to date, 6 few studies, in countries other than Chile, have investigated the potential impact of FOP nutrition labeling initiatives on the reformulation of food and beverage products by industry through observational rather than predicted (modeling) studies; and all are based on positive labeling systems. 12,23,32 Regarding the voluntary Health Star Rating (HSR) system FOP nutrition label in New Zealand, Ni Mhurchu et al found that between 2014 and 2016, some products that carried the HSR underwent healthier reformulation compared with similar products without an HSR. 23 Nearly a decade earlier, Young and Swinburn determined that New Zealand's National Heart Foundation Pick the Tick voluntary FOP nutrition label licensing program resulted in reductions in sodium content of breakfast cereals, breads, and margarines, 32 while Thomson et al later found that edible oil spreads, yoghurts, dairy desserts, frozen desserts, ready meals, and processed poultry with the Pick the Tick label were also more likely to be lower in energy, trans fat, and saturated fat.…”