| Menu Labeling |
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Americans spend nearly half of their food budgets eating out. In addition, a majority of American parents purchase one or more meals for the family at restaurants and fast food outlets per week. Given the growing consumption of foods away from home, menu labeling may help consumers make healthier purchases. But many questions remain about the effectiveness of menu labeling policies. Research studies in this area are evaluating the impact of menu labeling policies in jurisdictions that mandated calorie labeling in restaurants, even before it was mandated as a part of the recent healthcare reform. Title: Calorie Labeling and Food Choices: A First Look at the Effects on Low-Income People in New York City
RWJF Grant ID: 65634
Principal Investigator: Brian Elbel, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Organization: New York University School of Medicine
Results: This paper assesses the effect of mandated calorie labeling on fast food choices in New York City. A sample of more than 1,000 adults at fast-food restaurants in low-income, minority communities in New York was compared with a sample in Newark, New Jersey, which did not have a labeling mandate. The researchers found that while 27.7 percent of the New York respondents noted that the labeling influenced their fast-food choices, ultimately, it did not affect the calories they purchased.
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