Providing calorie information on fast-food restaurant menu boards: consumer views.
OBJECTIVE
To gather consumer input about approaches to providing energy composition information for foods on fast-food restaurant menus.


METHODS
We asked a subset of individuals (n = 150) in an experimental study about the influence of nutrition labeling on fast-food meal choices to evaluate calorie information on mock fast-food menus in various formats.


METHODS
Three community sites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, metropolitan area.


METHODS
Adolescents and adults who ate fast food at least once per week were recruited.


METHODS
Via a series of open- and close-ended questions, participants gave feedback about several formats for providing energy composition information for foods on fast-food restaurant menus.


METHODS
Means and frequencies were calculated, and chi2 tests were conducted.


RESULTS
When asked to compare a menu that provided calorie information for each menu item with a menu that provided the number of minutes of running that would be required to burn the calories contained in each menu item, 71.0% of participants preferred the calorie information over the physical activity information. Participants also compared two approaches to providing caloric reference information on the menu (average daily calorie needs per day vs. per meal), and 61.3% preferred the calorie needs-per-meal format.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results may be useful in designing approaches to providing energy composition information for foods on fast-food restaurant menus.
Fitch
Rebecca C
RC
Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA. fitch.rebecca@mayo.edu
Harnack
Lisa J
LJ
Neumark-Sztainer
Dianne R
DR
Story
Mary T
MT
French
Simone A
SA
Oakes
J Michael
JM
Rydell
Sarah A
SA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods; D002149:Energy Intake; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005515:Food Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012147:Restaurants; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult