Researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany have found that the use of red light in labelling food products could help customers make healthy food choices.
The proposed labelling system in the study used a red light for food items high in fat, sugar and salt, a yellow light for middle-of-the-road food items and a green light for healthy food.
About 35 adult participants, including 19 women, participated in the research that was published in the journal Obesity.
About 100 images of food items with respective nutritional information were shown to the adults who had brain scanners attached to them.
Researchers randomly assigned either standard nutrition information labels or the traffic light system to the food items and asked participants the amount they were willing to pay for each product.
It was found that they were willing to pay more for items with a green traffic light than items of comparable health that were labelled with the conventional system.
Bernd Weber of the Center for Economics and Neuroscience (CENs) said: "A traffic light label probably implicitly increases the weight consumers place on healthiness in their decision."
The participants said that they were least willing to pay for products with the red light. However, it was also found that they were willing to pay more for conventionally labelled junk food.
Weber added that the study is the first one to analyse the effect of traffic light signals on a customer's evaluation processes while making a purchase decision, though the traffic light system is in use in the UK where it had a mixed success as it created a bit of confusion for shoopers.
