title: Menu labeling perception and health behaviors among immigrant and US born minority populations: assessment in two Los Angeles public markets.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze menu labeling perception and food choices/health behaviors in two Los Angeles public markets. Labels with food caloric content were displayed in the food court of one of these markets.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bivarate means analyses compared the surveyed population by market and by nativity status. The main predictors of menu-labeling influence were identified in the sample from the market that displayed labels. A separate analysis investigated food choices/health behaviors among immigrant cohorts by time of US residence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reading labels when shopping was one of the main predictors associated with menu labeling influence. Longer-stayed immigrants were more likely to afford "balanced meals", but they were also more likely to eat in fast food restaurants and less likely to engage into moderate/intense physical activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While nativity was not a significant predictor of menu labeling influence on food choices, our findings suggest food choices/behaviors convergence among immigrant and US-born populations.
authors.affiliation: Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vargas-Bustamante
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005515:Food Labeling; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054525:Minority Health; D055815:Young Adult