If you’re a Californian, you may have noticed that restaurant chains are now offering nutritional and caloric information about menu items, usually in a brochure shoved off to the side. That’s great, if you’re like me and are curious about what you’re eating. But does nutritional information actually change food purchase decisions? Up to now, the answer has been unclear, but an intriguing new study from Yale suggests that, yes, in the right context, people definitely eat less when they know more.
The study, published in December 2009’s American Journal of Public Health, divided study participants into three groups. The first group was given a regular menu at a restaurant and told to order dinner. The second group was given a menu with caloric information and was similarly told to order. The third group was given the caloric information menu that also contained the statement, “the average daily caloric intake for an adult is 2000 calories.” Not surprisingly, the two groups with the caloric information menus wound up eating less calories at dinner than the regular menu group. But did they wind up eating less calories overall during the day? The answer, surprisingly, is no. The group with the caloric information menu but no daily caloric intake statement went home and had an after-dinner snack, overall ingesting the same amount of calories as the regular menu group. However, the caloric information menu group that also had the daily caloric intake statement, did not snack after dinner as much, and on average ate 250 calories less than the other two groups. The take home message: context matters. Remind a diner of their daily caloric needs and not only will they eat less at dinner, but they will likely eat less when they go home.
Now, what do you do if you want to make smart choices, but the menu doesn’t show caloric counts? As of January 1, 2011, all chain restaurants in California will be required to list caloric information on menus and indoor menu boards. You won’t have to hunt around for brochures. That means when you order your reduced-fat banana chocolate chip coffee cake at Starbucks, the sad facts will be up front and center: reduced fat doesn’t mean reduced calories. That delicious thing has nearly 400 calories!
As for the daily caloric intake statement, there are no requirements that it be included on menus. Although maybe it’s not a bad idea given that 16 million Californians are considered overweight or obese…
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