Abstract

Introduction. Nutritional profiling systems (NPS) are mainly used in front-end labeling policiesin order to make the purchase and consumption choice conscious and healthy. Objetive. Thisstudy systematically reviewed evidence from interventions on the effect of NPS in the front-of-package on food purchases. Materials and methods. A bibliographic search was carried out inelectronic sources from Medline, Elsevier, Scielo and Lilacs, of experimental studies andintervention between 2012 and 2022. A total of 14 articles were included in the review. Theywere analyzed according to the intervention modality used: 4 studies analyzed the effect ofNPS in a real purchase situation and 10 evaluated purchase perception/intention. Results.According to the modality of intervention, the 6 studies that analyzed the NPS-warning system,all recorded healthier purchases compared to the control groups. While for the NPS-NutriScore, Health Star Rating and Multiple Traffic Lights were effective in the decision to purchase healthier foods, in 5 of 7 studies for the first NPS, in 4 of 7 for the second and in 4 of 8 for the third, compared with control groups. Conclusions. Findings of this study suggest that NPSs may be effective for healthy purchase choices, even so it is necessary to strengthen the system and policies with nutritional food education campaigns.