Nudging Consumers towards Healthier Carbohydrates

Year Submitted: 2025
Published Date: 06 November 2025

Tags: Care Continuum, Population Health, Palliative Care, Physical Health, Commercialisation, Preventive Care, Community Health, Health Promotion, Public Awareness, Primary Care, Quality Of Life

About this Content

Aims

This study was a collaboration with the Health Promotion Board (HPB) and investigated factors that could nudge consumers in a school cafeteria towards choosing healthier wholegrain options. Based on Behavioural Insights (BI) principles, three different interventions were designed and implemented. These interventions were also compared to two different control groups. Customers choice of carbohydrate was measured to determine the success of the interventions. Data analysis of the results revealed that the food service staffs script intervention significantly increased consumers choice of wholegrain carbohydrates, while the other two interventions were not significantly better than the control groups. This suggests that active and timely recommendations by service staff might be effective in nudging consumers towards healthier food options, whereas passively displayed information might have lesser effects on consumers choice.

Background

Methods

There were three different BI interventions tested (Scripts, Decision Point Stickers, Posters) and 2 control groups. Firstly, scripts were used by food service staff. The script targeted individuals who initially chose non-wholegrains. During the intervention period, researchers played the role of food service staff and posed a series of scripted questions to nudge consumers towards the wholegrain option (Figure 2). Secondly, a small arrow-shaped Decision point sticker (DPS) stating Choose Wholegrains was pasted on the counter where patrons would typically place their orders. The arrow pointed directly to the wholegrain option, ensuring participants awareness of the available wholegrain carbohydrate. Ideally, participants would read the stickers recommendation right before ordering, and be primed to choose the wholegrain (Figures 3.1 3.2). Thirdly, we affixed posters at two locations the yellow wall before the queue and the pillar beside the queue. Ideally, participants should notice the poster(s)

Results

The script significantly increased purchase of wholegrains, and was thus effective at nudging carbohydrate choices in the right direction. This study also demonstrated that HPBs HCS alone was able to effective nudge consumers towards whole grain carbohydrate choices, compared to no intervention at all. In fact, it was also better than the poster and sticker interventions in nudging carbohydrate choices, although this difference was not statistically significant (Figure 7). This was in contrast toprevious studies, which found mixed results regarding the efficacy of such labels in influencing healthier food choices.

Lessons Learnt

The effectiveness of the script intervention in dissuading consumers from the consumption of non-wholegrain carbohydrates, lends support to the notion that health goal priming and the messenger effect are effective BI tools in nudging individuals towards desirable behaviours. The scripts effectiveness also demonstrates how it could be targeted at youths to help shape the food preferences of adolescents. Additionally, the effectiveness of HPBs HCS in dissuading consumers from the consumption of non-wholegrains in our study supports the continuation of its extensive use in nudging the population towards healthier nutritional options.

Keywords

lifestyle intervention, healthy living, chronic illness

Innovators' Details

Connect with this contributor!

Tan Wah Pheow - TAN_Wah_Pheow@tp.edu.sg ↗ (opens in new tab)

Project Attachment

178_TP_TPCABS_Nudging_Consumers_towards_Healthier_Carbohydrates.pdf ↗ (opens in new tab)