Christina A. Roberto, Ph.D.Departments of Social & Behavioral Sciences
and Nutrition
Designing Nutrition Labels
Menu Labeling Rationale
1. People eat out a lot
2. People don’t know the calories in restaurant food
3. If they did, they’d make lower calorie choices (at least some of the time)
See review Roberto et al. Am J Prev Med, 2009
But nutrition information is already available?
Research study - counted people at
Roberto et al. Am J Public Health, 2009
Menu Labeling Rationale
1. People don’t know the calories in restaurant food
2. If they did, they’d make lower calorie choices (at least some of the time)
Menu Labeling in a Restaurant Lab
303 adults for market research study
Randomized to 1 of 3 menus
Focus group, ordered & ate food, dietary recall
Roberto et al, Am J Public Health, 2010
Menu with Calorie Labels + Daily Calorie Info
The recommended daily caloric intake for an average adult is 2000 calories
Calories Ordered for Dinner C
alor
ies
No Calories Calories Calories+Info500
700
900
1100
1300
1500
1700
1900
2100
2300 2189
1862 1859
Calories Eaten At Dinner
No Calories Calories Calories+Info500
700
900
1100
1300
1500
1700
1459
13351256
Cal
orie
s
Calories Eaten After Dinner
No Calories Calories Calories+Info0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
179
294
177
Cal
orie
s
Dinner + After Dinner Calories Eaten
No Calories Calories Calories+Info500
700
900
1100
1300
1500
17001630 1625
1379
Cal
orie
s
Summary
Calorie labels led to fewer calories:
Ordered
Eaten
With just calories people ate more later
Putting calories in context led to avg reduction of 250 calories
U.S. Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act
SEC. 4205. NUTRITION LABELING OF STANDARD MENU ITEMS AT CHAIN RESTAURANTS
Number of calories
Statement about daily caloric intake
How Smart Were Smart Choices?
Randomly sampled from 8 packaged food categories on Smart Choices Website
Nutrition info for 100 products
Classified products as “healthy” based on Nutrient Profile Model Validated & informed policy in UK & Australia
Roberto et al. Pub Health Nutr, 2011
– Institute of Medicine Released First Report
–Working on Second Report
–Food industry releases Facts Up Front
In the meantime…
Hospital Cafeteria in Boston
Over 6,000 employees and visitors per day
All register data for 9 months, ~3 million items
Traffic lights + choice architecture for beverages
“Consume often”
“Consume less often”
“There’s a better choice in green or
yellow”
Thorndike et al., Am J Public Health, 2012
Sales of all cafeteria items during Baseline and Labeling
Red items Yellow items Green items0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
% o
f to
tal ca
fete
ria s
ale
s
Cold beverage sales Baseline vs Labeling
Red items Yellow items Green items0
10
20
30
40
50
60
% o
f co
ld b
evera
ge s
ale
s
Simple, Salient, Meaningful Nutrition Labels
–Restaurant menu labeling
–Front-of-package labels
–Nutrition facts labels on packaged foods