Researchers from the University of Liverpool found it could slash the number of overweight people in half
Sophie Buchan Money and Lifestyle Writer
23:30, 04 Nov 2025
How often do you look at food labels when you shop?(Image: Studio 70SN via Getty Images)
More than 100,000 deaths linked to obesity could be avoided over the next 20 years if food manufacturers were required to display clear nutritional warning labels on the front of packaging, according to experts. Chile became the first nation to introduce a compulsory front-of-pack labelling system in 2016, mandating that foods and drinks high in fat, salt, or sugar carry a prominent black octagonal warning symbol.
Since then, countries such as Mexico and Canada have implemented similar regulations. However, in the UK, nutritional information must currently be shown on the back of food packaging, but front-of-pack labelling, including the traffic light system, remains optional.
Researchers, writing in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, used modelling techniques to estimate the potential public health impact of introducing mandatory front-of-pack warning labels across the UK.
Experts also note that there are things to consider with traffic light labelling(Image: coldsnowstorm via Getty Images)
Over a 20-year period between 2024 and 2043, researchers predict that making traffic light labelling compulsory on food packaging could cut obesity levels by 2.34 percentage points and help prevent or delay around 57,000 obesity-related deaths. However, the study also found that introducing mandatory nutrient warning labels would have an even bigger impact with this approach reducing obesity rates by 4.44 percentage points whilst also preventing an estimated 110,000 deaths linked to obesity.
The authors have urged the Government to consider implementing nutrient warning labels. Dr Rebecca Evans, corresponding author of the study, said: “Our findings suggest that mandatory nutrient warning labels could deliver substantial health benefits for the population, reducing both obesity rates and related mortality.
“These results support current government discussions about alternative labelling approaches and provide robust evidence to guide future UK food labelling policy.”
Dr Zoe Colombet, a contributor to the study, added: “Nutrition labels are a simple yet powerful tool. Making them mandatory could help people make healthier food choices and encourage the food industry to rethink what goes on our shelves, helping to prevent thousands of deaths linked to obesity”.
The change could slash obesity rates and help people when shopping(Image: Peter Dazeley via Getty Images)
Amanda Daley, professor of behavioural medicine at Loughborough University, also said: “We need effective public health interventions to reduce the number of deaths related to people living with obesity and mandatory warning labels on food may be one way to achieve this.
“Importantly, we need the food industry to play their part in helping people to make informed decisions about the food they purchase and consume. The requirement for food manufacturers in the United Kingdom to include warning labels may encourage the sector to consider more carefully the contents and portion size of food items that they sell. Let’s not forget, the public have the right to be fully informed about the impact of the food they consume on their health.”
Dr Jordan Beaumont, from Sheffield Hallam University, wrote that whilst the traffic light system is a “useful tool for consumers”, he did highlight that it could be “tricky to interpret in context of our wider food choices and dietary intake.”
He explained: “Given we often have very little time to actually inspect labelling and make truly informed decisions when shopping for food, nutrition warning labels provide simpler and more explicit information that is quick and easy to interpret, which explains the larger impact of such information in this modelling.”
Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, assistant director of food at the British Retail Consortium, which represents retailers, concluded: “Retailers are fully committed to helping improve the health of their customers and have been consistent in providing advice on healthy living, including providing nutritional information on all their products. Supermarkets have also keenly adopted the traffic light system for nutritional information on their own products.”
The Department of Health has been contacted by the Press Association for comment.