Study on providing nutritional information on restaurant men

mialsya

For my experimental psychology class, I conducted a study on whether or not providing nutritional information for calories, fat, and sodium in menu items would change a person's ordering decisions. I just finished the final report and wanted to share the results with you since many of you who participated (and I thank you!) asked to know what the final outcome was.

There were 140 participants used with 36 being labeled "Sedentary", 66 being labeled "Moderate" and 38 being labeled "Active" based on their reported daily activity levels. Each participant completed a survey that presented them with two menus - one without nutritional information (Menu A) and one with nutritional information (Menu . First, they were presented with Menu A and asked to make food selections as if they were ordering a meal from this menu as a restaurant. After the selections were recorded, they were presented with information about the USDA recommendations of the maximum daily allowances for the average American to maintain a healthy lifestyle. After this information was presented, they were presented with Menu B and asked to make food selections a second time as if they were ordering a meal from this menu at a restaurant. It's important to note that the styling, food choices, and food descriptions were all identical between the two menus. The only difference between the two were the nutritional information addition to Menu B.

To analyze the results, a score was calculated for each individual by adding up the nutritional values for each order for the calories, fat, and sodium for each menu and then subtracting the values from Menu A from Menu B. A negative score showed a downward shift in nutritional values after the nutritional information was presented. The results showed a significant effect of lifestyle on ordering with the sedentary group having the largest changes. All three groups had a decrease in the averages of calories, fat, and sodium amounts. The analysis of the data also showed that the changes in the sedentary group were significantly different from the other two groups and that the moderate and active groups were not significantly different from each other. This means that the moderate and active groups were similar in ordering habits and scores. This may be due to the increased level of nutritional education and knowledge of these two groups as opposed to the sedentary group, but I don't have any concrete evidence to support this idea.

My conclusion, based on the data analysis, is that providing nutritional information and a statement about the current USDA recommendations on restaurant menus will result in healthier choices when ordering regardless of current level of nutritional knowledge or activity level.

Average nutritional intake for each group -

Sedentary:

Calories before: 2128.22
Calories after: 988.33
Calorie change: -1139.89

Fat before: 108.72
Fat after: 45.89
Fat change: -62.83

Sodium before: 4081.11
Sodium after: 2038.89
Sodium change: -2042.22

Moderate:

Calories before: 1557.59
Calories after: 1222.92
Calorie change: -334.67

Fat before: 74.62
Fat after: 55.64
Fat change: -18.98

Sodium before: 2828.56
Sodium after: 2365.98
Sodium change: -462.58

Active:

Calories before: 1523.82
Calories after: 1027.03
Calorie change: -496.79

Fat before: 66.66
Fat after: 37.16
Fat change: -29.50

Sodium before: 2494.24
Sodium after: 1864.76
Sodium change: -629.48

melsinct

Interesting, thanks for posting!

heathersmilez

Excellent choice in project topic and I love the findings! Now if only they make it a law in ALL states and provinces to put this info into menus we'd have a healthier North America!

mialsya

Excellent choice in project topic and I love the findings! Now if only they make it a law in ALL states and provinces to put this info into menus we'd have a healthier North America!

Agreed. Unfortunately, the restauranteurs are fighting this saying it would be too costly to print this information on their menus. How so? I think it's because they would lose money when people stop ordering out so much or demand healthier choices. Those high fat and high calorie items would disappear off the menus very quickly.