Restaurant menu labelling: Is it worth adding sodium to the label?

Area of Science:

• Public Health Nutrition
• Consumer Behavior Studies
• Food Policy Research

Background:

• Menu labeling policies are expanding, with recommendations for information beyond just calories.
• The specific impact of including sodium information on consumer choices remains unclear.
• Understanding factors influencing menu labeling effectiveness is crucial for public health initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if menu labeling with sodium information aids consumers in selecting lower-sodium meal options.
• To identify other variables that affect how menu labeling influences consumer food selections.

Main Methods:

• A repeated measures experiment involving 3,080 Canadian consumers using mock restaurant menus.
• Participants were assigned to view menus with different labeling: calories only, calories and sodium, or calories, sodium, and serving size.
• Consumers had the option to change their initial meal order after viewing the menu labels.

Main Results:

• Menu labeling led to a decrease in sodium levels across all treatments (p<0.0001).
• Menus displaying calorie and sodium information resulted in significantly lower sodium orders compared to calorie-only labels in most cases (p<0.01).
• Consumers using sodium labeling reduced their meal's sodium content by 171-384 mg on average; those who changed orders saw reductions of 681-1,360 mg.

Conclusions:

• Integrating sodium information with calorie data on menus can enhance the reduction of sodium intake among restaurant patrons.
• Consumer demographics, weight loss intentions, and initial calorie choices influence the utilization of menu labeling.