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Research Results Menu Labeling
Research Results Menu Labeling
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Americans spend nearly half of their food budgets eating out. In addition, a majority of American parents purchase one or more meals for the family at restaurants and fast food outlets per week. Given the growing consumption of foods away from home, menu labeling may help consumers make healthier purchases. But many questions remain about the effectiveness of menu labeling policies. Research studies in this area are evaluating the impact of menu labeling policies in jurisdictions that mandated calorie labeling in restaurants, even before it was mandated as a part of the recent healthcare reform.
Title: Reduction in Purchases of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Among Low-Income, Black Adolescents After Exposure to Caloric Information
RWJF Grant ID: 66955
Principal Investigator: Sara N. Bleich, PhD
Organization: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Results: This paper examines the effect of an intervention to provide caloric information about sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on the number of SSBs purchased by Black adolescents. The intervention randomly assigned urban corner stores in Baltimore City, Maryland to the following calorie information conditions which were posted on the beverage cases: 1) absolute caloric count, 2) percentage of total recommended daily intake, and 3) physical activity equivalent (i.e., minutes of jogging necessary to burn off a bottle of soda or fruit juice). While researchers found that providing Black adolescents with any caloric information significantly reduced the odds of SSB purchases, they found that providing relative caloric information in the form of a physical activity equivalent was associated with the largest reduction in SSB purchases.
Title: Consumer Estimation of Recommended and Actual Calories at Fast Food Restaurants
RWJF Grant ID: 65634
Principal Investigator: Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH
Organization: New York University School of Medicine
Results: This paper examines the assumptions that consumers know how many calories they should consume throughout the course of a day and customers improperly estimate the number of calories in their fast food order. It then examines whether mandatory menu labeling influences either of these assumptions. Based on receipt and survey data collected from consumers outside fast food restaurants in lower-income communities in New York City, researchers found that one-third of consumers properly estimated the number of calories an adult should consume in a day; menu labeling did not change these findings. Menu labeling did increase the number of consumers who correctly estimated the number of calories in their fast food meal, from 15% before menu labeling to 24% after menu labeling.
Title: Consumer Purchasing Patterns in Response to Calorie Labeling Legislation in New York City
RWJF Grant ID: 65634
Principal Investigator: Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH
Organization: New York University School of Medicine
Results: This paper examines whether menu labeling in New York City (NYC) chain restaurants affects food purchases or frequency of fast food consumption by comparing a sample of lower-income adults in NYC to a similar sample in Newark, NJ (which did not introduce labeling). The study showed mixed findings. Researchers found no significant differences in food purchasing patterns and frequency of fast food consumption between adult customers in NYC and Newark. Adults in NYC who reported seeing and using calorie labels consumed fast food less frequently compared to adults who did not notice the labels.
Title: Changes in Energy Content of Lunchtime Purchases from Fast Food Restaurants after Introduction of Calorie Labelling: Cross Sectional Customer Surveys
RWJF Grant ID: 65839
Principal Investigator: Tamara Dumanovsky, PhD
Organization: New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Results: This article assesses the impact of fast food restaurant menu labeling on the calorie content of individual lunchtime purchases of customers in New York City. Researchers found that, for the full survey sample, mean calories purchased did not change from before to after regulation. However, three major fast-food chains showed significant reductions in average calories per purchase after menu labeling had been in place for nine months (McDonald’s: 829 v. 785 kcal; Au Bon Pain: 555 v. 475 kcal; Kentucky Fried Chicken: 927 v. 868 kcal). Average calorie content increased for one chain (Subway: 749 v 882 calories). Customers who reported using calorie information in fast-food restaurants purchased meals with an average of 106 fewer calories.
Title: Child and Adolescent Fast-Food Choice and the Influence of Calorie Labeling: A Natural Experiment
RWJF Grant ID: 65634
Principal Investigator: Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH
Organization: New York University School of Medicine
Results: This article examines children’s and adolescents’ fast-food choices and the influence of calorie labels on adolescent and parent food choice in lower-income communities in New York City (NYC) and Newark, New Jersey (comparison city) before and after mandatory menu labeling began in NYC. Researchers found no statistically significant differences in calories purchased before and after labeling. Many adolescents (57% in NYC) noticed the calorie labels but few (9%) used the information when ordering food. Most adolescents (72%) reported that taste was the most important factor in their meal choice.
Title: Consumer Awareness of Fast-Food Calorie Information in New York City After Implementation of a Menu Labeling Regulation
RWJF Grant ID: 65429
Principal Investigator: Tamara Dumanovsky, PhD
Organization: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Results: This article examines consumer awareness of calorie information at fast-food restaurant chains in New York City after the introduction of calorie labeling on menus and menu boards. Researchers found that awareness of calorie information increased from pre-enforcement to post-enforcement of the calorie labeling regulation (25% to 64%). Among customers who saw calorie information post-enforcement, 27% of customers said they use the information in making their purchase. The authors conclude that posting information on menu boards increases the number of people who see and use the information.
Title: Calorie Labeling and Food Choices: A First Look at the Effects on Low-Income People in New York City
RWJF Grant ID: 65634
Principal Investigator: Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH
Organization: New York University School of Medicine
Results: This paper assesses the effect of mandated calorie labeling on fast food choices in New York City. A sample of more than 1,000 adults at fast-food restaurants in low-income, minority communities in New York was compared with a sample in Newark, New Jersey, which did not have a labeling mandate. The researchers found that while 27.7 percent of the New York respondents noted that the labeling influenced their fast-food choices, ultimately, it did not affect the calories they purchased.
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