Menu labeling does not help consumers make better food choices, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Menu labels have become a popular tool for policymakers in the fight against obesity, despite the lack of evidence to show that they're effective in helping consumers make healthier food choices. In a recent study, Carnegie Mellon University researchers investigated whether providing diners with recommended calorie intake information along with the menu items caloric intake would improve their food choices. Although other studies have shown menu labeling to be slightly effective in reducing women's caloric intake, results showed that the recommended calorie intake information did not help consumers use menu labeling more effectively.
In the study, researchers analyzed the purchase behaviors of 1,121 adult lunchtime diners at two McDonald's restaurants in New York City. In order to explore the potential interaction between pre-existing menu labeling and the addition of recommended calorie intake information, three groups of diners received different information. The information provided was either recommended daily calorie intake, recommended per-meal calorie intake or no additional information. Also, survey data was collected to grasp the diners' understanding of calorie consumption.
Results showed no interaction between the use of calorie recommendations and the pre-existing menu labels which suggests that incorporating calorie recommendations did not help customers make better use of the information on calorie-labeled menus. Further, it was found that calorie recommendations, either calories per-day or per-meal, did not show a reduction in the number of calories purchases. "People who count calories know that this is pretty labor-intensive exercise," said Julie Downs, associate research professor of social decision sciences in the CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. "Making information available on menus may have other beneficial effects such as motivating restaurants to change their information. But it may be unrealistic to expect many consumers to keep such close, numeric track of their food intake by using labels directly."
In the study, researchers analyzed the purchase behaviors of 1,121 adult lunchtime diners at two McDonald's restaurants in New York City. In order to explore the potential interaction between pre-existing menu labeling and the addition of recommended calorie intake information, three groups of diners received different information. The information provided was either recommended daily calorie intake, recommended per-meal calorie intake or no additional information. Also, survey data was collected to grasp the diners' understanding of calorie consumption.
Results showed no interaction between the use of calorie recommendations and the pre-existing menu labels which suggests that incorporating calorie recommendations did not help customers make better use of the information on calorie-labeled menus. Further, it was found that calorie recommendations, either calories per-day or per-meal, did not show a reduction in the number of calories purchases. "People who count calories know that this is pretty labor-intensive exercise," said Julie Downs, associate research professor of social decision sciences in the CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. "Making information available on menus may have other beneficial effects such as motivating restaurants to change their information. But it may be unrealistic to expect many consumers to keep such close, numeric track of their food intake by using labels directly."
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