Most consumers are unaware of the high levels of calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium found in many menu items. Provision of nutrition information on restaurant menus could potentially have a positive impact on public health by reducing the consumption of less-healthful foods.

Is the increase in away‐from‐home food consumption partially responsible for the rising prevalence of overweight consumers? Some believe that this may be the case since restaurants are not required to make easily accessible nutrition information available at the point of purchase. A field study, experiment, and consumer food diaries were used to explore how nutrition information disclosure on menus may influence consumers’ product evaluations and consumption behaviors. In the context of away‐from‐home food consumption, we find that product claims and consumer motivation moderate the effects of nutrition information provision. Consumer health and welfare implications of our findings are discussed.

Given substantial concern about the many negative consequences associated with the American obesity epidemic, legislation which would require chain restaurants to provide nutrition information on menus and menu boards has been proposed at the federal, state, and local levels. Two studies examine the effects of nutrition disclosure on consumer evaluations and purchase intentions while also considering potential moderating effects due to gender differences and motivation levels. Results indicate that nutrition disclosures can have an impact on consumer product evaluations and preferences, particularly for restaurant items that are less healthful than anticipated.

[1] A cloud-to-ground lightning stepped leader has been recorded with a slitless spectrograph at a recording rate of 10,000 images per second at a distance of 0.6 km. Five sequential images of the leader spectra were recorded with an exposure (integration) time of 99.6 ms each over a spectral range from 600 to 1050 nm. These are the first stepped leader spectra covering the range 600 to 1050 nm. The last three spectra, obtained immediately before the return stroke, were analyzed at an altitude of between 108 and 122 m above a struck vehicle. The spectral emissions in the near infrared are dominated by neutral nitrogen and oxygen emissions, and Ha, with only a few emission lines from singly ionized nitrogen. A singly ionized nitrogen line at 661.1 nm is present in the first analyzed image, but not in the two subsequent images at the same height, which suggests a cooling of the channel. The emissions are integrated over a 99.6 ms exposure time and therefore show no evidence of stepping. The ensuing negative return stroke was detected by the National Lightning Detection Network and had an estimated peak current of −15.2 kA. One subsequent stroke was outside the field of view of the spectrograph. The flash occurred on 11 September 2009 near New Underwood, South Dakota, and the exact location of the first stroke is known because it struck a car traveling on Interstate 90. The stepped leader two-dimensional speed increased in the last four steps from 1.53 × 10 5 to 2.42 × 10 5 m/s with an average of 2.03 × 10 5 m/s.