Does Calorie Information Promote Lower Calorie Fast Food Choices PDF

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Does Calorie Information Promote Lower Calorie Fast Food Choices

This experiment evaluated effects of calorie information on college students' fast food choices. Women chose lower calorie meals lower calorie items

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Adolescent health brief

Does Calorie Information Promote Lower Calorie Fast Food Choices

Among College Students?

Mary A. Gerend, Ph.D.*

Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, Florida Manuscript received March 16, 2008; manuscript accepted June 10, 2008

AbstractThis experiment evaluated effects of calorie information on college students" fast food choices.

Women chose lower calorie meals, lower calorie items, and lower priced meals when calorie information was provided than when it was not. Men"s selections were unaffected. Providing calorie

for Adolescent Medicine. All rights reserved. Keywords:Food labeling; Public health; Health policy; Obesity; Students College marks a time when many individuals start mak- ing important decisions about their dietary habits[1]. Given its low cost and convenience, fast food is a popular choice among college students. Unfortunately, easy access to in- expensive, high-calorie foods has contributed to the obesity epidemic[2,3]. The popularity of fast food among college students presents an especially pernicious problem, as neg- ative eating habits adopted early in life tend to persist throughout adulthood[4]. One potential solution involves recently proposed legis- lation (the Menu Education and Labeling [MEAL] Act) that would require restaurants to provide nutrition information to consumers at point of purchase. Previous research, how- ever, provides inconsistent evidence for the effects of menu labeling[1,5,6], and design limitations have obscured pre- vious ndings[6,7]. Moreover, there is some evidence that, relative to females, males are less likely to use nutrition labels when making food-related decisions, and are less interested in choosing low-calorie foods[1,4,5,8,9]. Some data even suggest that, whereas young women report using nutrition information to help them lose weight, young men

may use nutrition information to help themgainweight[1].The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether ex-

posure to calorie information influences college students" fast food choices. Students were randomly assigned to re- ceive fast-food menus that either contained or did not con- tain calorie information. Exposure to calorie information was hypothesized to affect female students" food choices (lead them to choose lower calorie meals), but to have no effect (or even the opposite effect) on male students" choices.

Methods

Introductory psychology students (111 men, 177 women) participated in exchange for course credit. The experiment took place in the investigator"s lab in groups of one to five students. Participants made food choices for three different scenarios (Table 1); scenario order was counterbalanced across participants (no order effects were found). Some participants were randomly assigned to receive menus that listed number of calories per item, whereas others received menus containing no calorie information. Menus (modeled after McDonald"s) included typical fast-food items: sand- wiches, French fries, chicken strips and nuggets, dipping sauces, salads, salad dressings, desserts, shakes, and bever- ages. Calorie information was obtained from the Mc- Donald"s Web site[10]. All menus included item prices.

Students also provided demographic information, height*Address correspondence to: Mary A. Gerend, Ph.D., Department of

Medical Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Medicine, Florida State University, 1115 West Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4300. E-mail address:mary.gerend@med.fsu.eduJournal of Adolescent Health 44 (2009) 84-86

1054-139X/09/$ - see front matter © 2009 Society for Adolescent Medicine. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.06.014 and weight, and frequency of eating fast food. The study was approved by the university human subjects committee.

Results

Mean age was 18.6 years (SD?1.3; range?17-25).

The majority of participants were freshman (77%) and

Caucasian (73%). Mean body mass index (BMI) was

23.12 (SD?3.67). Sixty-five percent ate fast food at least

once or more per week. Demographic characteristics, BMI, and frequency of fast food use were equivalent across the two conditions (p?.10). Although there were main effects of scenario, effects of calorie information were equivalent across the three scenar- ios for all outcome variables (i.e., no condition by scenario interactions were observed,p?.40); thus, summary mea- sures were computed by averaging across the scenarios. Outcome variables included: number of calories per meal, number of items per meal, number of calories per item, and meal price. An analysis of variance was used to examine effects of menu type (provision of calorie information vs. no calorie information), gender, and their interaction on each outcome variable (Table 2). Fornumber of calories per mealand number of calories per item,in addition to a main effect of gender, there was a menu type?gender interaction. Women ordered fewer calories per meal and lower calories per item when calorie information was provided than when it was not. Men ordered equivalent numbers of calories per meal and calories per item in the two conditions. No sig-

nificant effects were found fornumber of items per meal.Formeal price,findings revealed a main effect of menu type

and a menu type?gender interaction. Women chose lower priced meals when calorie information was provided than when it was not. Men"s meal price did not vary by condi- tion. Additional analyses evaluated whether menu type in- teracted with BMI; however, no such effects were observed.

Discussion

Findings suggest that displaying calorie information in fast-food restaurants could have beneficial effects for public health. Consistent with previous findings[1,4,9]women who received calorie information chose significantly lower calorie meals (146 fewer calories per meal) than did women who did not receive calorie information. If a woman were to eat fast food once a week, the calorie reduction observed in this study would translate into 7,592 calories annually, a reduction of 2.2 pounds per year. This effect appeared to be driven by women choosing lower calorie items, rather than fewer items. Women who received calorie information also ordered lower priced meals, although this does not imply that provision of calorie information would necessarily re- duce spending, as the relationship between price and calorie content varies considerably across different fast food menus and chains[6]. Providing calorie information had no effect on men"s choices. Men tended to order more calories per meal when they were provided (vs. not provided) with calorie informa- tion, although this difference was not statistically signifi- cant. This finding may be peculiar to young adults; thus, further research is needed to better understand food labeling

Table 1

Scenarios presented with each fast food menu

Scenario name Content

Quick dinner Your Monday class gets out at 7:00 p.m. and you're planning to meet some classmates at the library at 7:45 to work on a project.

You have 45 minutes to grab something to eat. What would you choose?

Starving You can't remember the last time you went to the grocery store and your refrigerator is empty. You've had a very hectic day on

an empty stomach. It's dinner time and you're absolutely starving! What would you choose?

Not too hungry You met some friends after class for a late lunch. It's now 7:30 and you're not really hungry, but don't want to wait to eat

because you have plans tonight and won't have the opportunity to eat again until much later. What would you choose?

Table 2

Mean (standard deviation) calories per meal, items per meal, calories per item, and meal price by gender and menu type

Women (n?177) Men (n?111)

Outcome variable No calorie information Calorie information No calorie information Calorie information

Calories per meal 934 (371)

788 (274)

1,052 (313)

1,144 (362)

Items per meal 3.98 (1.38)

3.70 (1.16)

4.02 (1.17)

4.14 (1.19)

Calories per item 237 (57)

218 (64)

268 (66)

281 (61)

Meal price ($) $6.68 (1.56)

a $5.80 (1.29) b $6.63 (1.79) a $6.54 (1.88) a

No calorie information?participants received menus with the item name and price only. Calorie information?participants received menus with the item

name, price, and number of calories per item.

Means in a row with different superscripts are significantly different from each other (p?.05).85M.A. Gerend / Journal of Adolescent Health 44 (2009) 84-86

effects across different age groups, as well as among indi- viduals at greatest risk for obesity. A limitation of this study is that hypothetical choices (rather than actual calorie intake) were evaluated. Partici- pants" orders may not reflect the calories they would eat in an actual restaurant setting, and social desirability may have played a role in their responses. Additional studies are needed to assess whether displaying nutrition information in restau- rants will ultimately contribute to reductions in obesity. Despite this limitation, these findings reflect a timely look at effects of menu labeling and provide preliminary support for the MEAL Act. Instituting the proposed legislation would involve certain costs to the restaurant industry (e.g., printing new menus). Nevertheless, the present findings suggest that relatively small and inexpensive environmental changes such as providing calorie information at point of purchase could have positive implications for public health.

References

[1] Conklin MT, Cranage DA, Lambert CU. College students" use of point of selection nutrition information. Top Clin Nutr 2005;20:97-

108.[2] Schwartz MB, Brownell KD. Actions necessary to prevent childhood

obesity: creating the climate for change. J Law Med Ethics 2007;35:

78-89.

[3] Jeffery RW, French SA. Epidemic obesity in the United States: are fast foods and television viewing contributing? Am J Public Health

1998;88:277-80.

[4] Levi A, Chan KK, Pence D. Real men do not read labels: the effects of masculinity and involvement on college students" food decisions.

J Am Coll Health 2006;55:91-8.

[5] Neuhouser ML, Kristal AR, Patterson RE. Use of food nutrition labels is associated with lower fat intake. J Am Diet Assoc 1999;99:

45-53.

[6] Yamamoto JA, Yamamoto JB, Yamamoto BE, et al. Adolescent fast food and restaurant ordering behavior with and without calorie and fat content menu information. J Adolesc Health 2005;37:397-402. [7] Burton S, Creyer EH, Kees J, et al. Attacking the obesity epidemic: the potential health benefits of providing nutrition information in restaurants. Am J Public Health 2006;96:1669-75. [8] Krukowski RA, Harvey-Berino J, Kolodinsky J, et al. Consumers may not use or understand calorie labeling in restaurants. J Am Diet

Assoc 2006;106:917-20.

[9] Smith SC, Taylor JG, Stephen AM. Use of food labels and beliefs about diet-disease relationships among university students. Public

Health Nutr 2000;3:175-82.

[10] McDonald"s Corporation. McDonald"s USA nutrition facts for pop- ular menu items. Available at:http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_

controller.nutrition.index1.html.Accessed March 30, 2007.86M.A. Gerend / Journal of Adolescent Health 44 (2009) 84-86

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