Improvement of Snack Choices among Children by Traffic-Light Food Labeling Education Employing Jigsaw Method

Background: Use of traffic light food labels has the potential to be an effective nutritional education tool in the community. We aimed to assess the impact of a school-based traffic light food label education program onstudents’ snack choices in Shiraz, Iran.Methods: This school-based randomized controlled educational study was conducted on 80 children aged 10-12 years old, selected via multistage cluster sampling in primary schools. Over a period of three months, the intervention group received four sessions of healthy food label and traffic light label education. Before and after the interventions, all participants answered the nutrition and traffic light food label knowledge questionnaire. To evaluate food choices, participants were asked to choose between two types of cakes and fruit juices with different food labels before and after the education.Results: It was shown that knowledge of traffic light food labels increased in the intervention group (p<0.001). A significant increase in nutritional knowledge was found in both the intervention (p=0.026) and control(p=0.023) groups, but the difference between the two groups was not significant. After interventions, participants in the intervention group made healthier choices for cakes and fruit juices (p=0.004, p=0.024, respectively).Conclusion: Our study indicates that traffic light food labels education can be an effective tool to increase children’s knowledge about healthy food choices and leads to make better snack choices too. These findings support the use of traffic light food labels as a useful tool in nutrition education programs.