A nudge in a healthy direction. The effect of nutrition labels on food purchasing behaviors in university dining facilities

•Examined the introduction of labels into university dining halls on foods purchased.•Analyzed food purchase data three months prior and three months after introduction.•Observed small but significant decrease in high calorie, high fat foods purchased.•And small but significant increase in low calor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Appetite 2015-09, Vol.92, p.7-14
Main Authors: Cioffi, Catherine E., Levitsky, David A., Pacanowski, Carly R., Bertz, Fredrik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dietary Fats - analysis
Energy Intake
Food Labeling
Food labels
Food Preferences - psychology
Food purchased
Health Behavior
Health Promotion - methods
Humans
Reduced calories purchased
Restaurants
Universities
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Summary:•Examined the introduction of labels into university dining halls on foods purchased.•Analyzed food purchase data three months prior and three months after introduction.•Observed small but significant decrease in high calorie, high fat foods purchased.•And small but significant increase in low calorie, low fat foods purchased. Background: Despite legislation that requires restaurants to post nutritional labels on their products or menu items, the scientific literature provides inconsistent support for the idea that adding labels to foods will change buying patterns. Lack of success of previous research may be that sample sizes have been too small and durations of studies too short. Objective: To assess the effect of nutrition labeling on pre-packaged food purchases in university dining facilities. Design: Weekly sales data for a sample of pre-packaged food items were obtained and analyzed, spanning three semesters before and three semesters after nutritional labels were introduced on to the sample of foods. The labels summarized caloric content and nutrient composition information. Mean nutrient composition purchased were calculated for the sample of foods. Labeled food items were categorized as high-calorie, low-calorie, high-fat, or low-fat foods and analyzed for change as a function of the introduction of the labels. Setting: Data were obtained from all retail dining units located at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY where the pre-packaged food items were sold. Results: Results indicated that the introduction of food labels resulted in a 7% reduction of the mean total kcals purchased per week (p 
ISSN:0195-6663
1095-8304
DOI:10.1016/j.appet.2015.04.053