The PEACH Lab

Dr. Christina Roberto, the Director for The Psychology of Eating and Consumer Health (PEACH) Lab, will be stepping into a new role as the founding director for the new Penn Center for Food and Nutrition Policy. The Center’s mission is to evaluate policies and interventions that promote healthy eating habits and prevent nutrition-related chronic diseases. A key goal of the Center is to work closely with policymakers to create tighter links between science and policy. With that goal in mind, The Center is delighted to welcome Dr. Alyssa Moran on board who is the new Director for Policy and Research Strategy.

This past year, the Center’s work informed FDA efforts to propose a new food labeling system in the United States. In two new studies published in JAMA Network Open, our team demonstrated that simple, easy-to-understand food labels can motivate consumers to make healthier choices.  The first study co-authored by Drs. Anna Grummon, Laura Gibson, and Christina Roberto identified different food label designs that helped people choose fewer calories from drinks and snacks compared to a numeric-based calorie label. A second study co-authored by Drs. Laura Gibson and Christina Roberto showed that vending machines with “traffic light” labels or labels showing how much exercise is needed to burn off the calories led to healthier drink choices, though not healthier snack choices, compared to a poster about a beverage tax. In an effort to further disseminate their work on front of package food labeling, Alyssa Moran and Christina Roberto wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post arguing for simple nutrition labels to educate consumers.