[Dietary differences between restaurants and home in a representative sample of the adult population residing in...

Differences in dietary intakes between those who eat at home and those who eat at the restaurant have not been documented previously. In the present study, three registered dietitians interviewed 626 adult residents of Geneva on the telephone about their diet the day before. Interviews were distributed over the seven days of the week. Participation rate was 80%. Results show that men go more often to the restaurant than women, that young people have lunch at the restaurant more often than older people but that age is not related to having dinner at the restaurant. When a resident of Geneva goes to the restaurant to have dinner, he eats and drinks more than those who eat at home, but the relative content of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates of the diet is not different. In conclusion, in Geneva the diet at the restaurant is very similar to the diet at home. This suggest that the meals in a restaurant tend to adapt to the customer's expectations rather then the opposite. The potential implication for public health is that the priority is to inform the customer about what is a healthy diet, the restaurant owner will follow his client's need.