Changes in Awareness and Use of Calorie Information After Mandatory Menu Labeling in Restaurants in King County, Washington

Abstract

Significant increases in calorie information awareness and use following regulation support the population-wide value of this policy. However, improvements varied across race, income, and gender.

Factors Associated with Self-Reported Menu-Labeling Usage among US Adults

“…Similar to previous studies, the findings showed that women were more likely than men to use menu labeling, 11,14,24 as were those with higher education 24,25 and higher income 14,24,25 than their counterparts. Women had 2.8 times higher odds for being frequent menu labeling users than men in our study.…”

“…16 In this study using the same dataset, we further specified that among the same population, 25.6% were frequent users and 31.6% were moderate users. The findings showed a somewhat higher prevalence of menu labeling use than previous studies in single jurisdictions 14,23 and multiple jusrisdictions. 11,15 A 2010 study among 1,083 customers from King County, Washington, showed that while 60% of customers reported seeing menu labeling, only about 25% reported using it.…”

“…11,15 A 2010 study among 1,083 customers from King County, Washington, showed that while 60% of customers reported seeing menu labeling, only about 25% reported using it. 14 Another study with 8,489 adult customers from New York City in 2009 showed that only 15% of customers reported using calorie information after 9 months of full enforcement of menu labeling, though the researchers did not specify whether or not customers noticed or saw menu labeling. 23 Wethington and colleagues conducted a study of 4,363 adults surveyed in 2009, which was weighted to match the distribution of the US population, that found 36% of adults reported reading calorie information, and of those, 95% reported using this information at least sometimes when making their food selection.…”

“…11 Moreover, environmental factors such as enacted state and local menu labeling legislation could influence menu labeling use. Most menu labeling research has focused on awareness 12,13 and use 14 of calorie information and has been restricted to a single jurisdiction (e.g., New York City, King County, Washington). Although few previous studies 11,15 examined the possible associations between menu labeling use and certain sociodemographic and behavioral factors adjusting for confounders, one study used data from 2009 before the federal law was passed using sociodemographic variables and reading calorie information when available 15 and the other study using 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) included food consumption variables, body mass index, self-perception of general health, and sociodemographic variables, but did not include race/ethnicity as a covariate because the sample consisted of adults from only 3 states (Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Minnesota), limiting subgroup analyses by race/ethnicity.…”

The Influence of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Warnings

“…This suggests that factors related to SES may have less impact on adolescents’ ability to use these labels relative to other types of nutrition labels, whereas research on restaurant menu calorie labeling has found that higher-income and higher-educated individuals are more likely to use menu calorie labels to make purchasing decisions. 19,20 Future research could investigate whether SSB warning labels are categorically different from (and perhaps more universally understood than) other labels, or whether the hypothetical setting contributed to the uniqueness of the present results.…”