ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Chronic disease accounts for 70% of deaths globally and causes substantial economic burdens. Research indicates diet can significantly reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. Governments regulate health claims that can inform consumers of foods' health attributes and encourage them to consume healthy diets. This paper evaluates how the health status of North Americans has changed over time and after the approval of health claims in Canada and the United States. METHODS: Data were obtained from the OECD Health Statistics database. A logarithmic health status function with country fixed-effects for Canada and the USA is used to evaluate changes in life expectancies over time. RESULTS: The findings indicate the health claims significantly affected female but not male life expectancies. However, both female (0.303%/year) and male (0.611%/year) life expectancies improved over the period, suggesting they are responsive to external health information. CONCLUSION: This paper provides insights and discusses policy options regarding the efficacy of specific health claims in Canada and the USA at nudging consumers to improve health outcomes.
