The influence of caloric information on cafeteria food choices.
Posting calorie counts on the three lowest-calorie options nudged vegetable and salad choices yet left total meal calories unchanged.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Workers ate lunch in a company cafeteria. Researchers put bright cards on the three lowest-calorie foods. The cards showed the calorie count.
They watched what people picked for six weeks. They compared choices to a six-week baseline with no cards.
What they found
Vegetable and salad sales went up when the cards were there. People picked the labeled low-calorie foods more often.
Total calories per tray stayed the same. Diners simply added the veggies to their usual meal.
How this fits with other research
Bennett et al. (1973) handed shoppers a small flyer that praised returnable bottles. Bottle sales rose 25%. Both studies show a cheap sign can shift one choice, yet the wider pattern stays put.
Houten (1988) painted an early stop line plus a sign at a busy crosswalk. Pedestrian close calls dropped 80%. Like the calorie cards, the prompt worked only where it was placed; drivers sped again once the line left.
Marí-Bauset et al. (2016) found kids with ASD on a gluten-free diet ate more vegetables but risked low vitamin D. The cafeteria study adds a simple way to boost veggie intake without forcing a special diet.
Why it matters
If you consult in schools, hospitals, or adult day programs, slap a bright calorie tag on the salad bar. You may see veggie picks double even if total intake stays flat. Pair the label with a prompt to swap, not add, for bigger health gains.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
We evaluated the effect of posting caloric information on food purchases at a cafeteria. Purchases of more than 14,300 entrees, vegetables, and salads by 6,970 customers were unobtrusively monitored via the cash register inventory control system during 15 evening observations. A quasi-multiple-baseline design across food groups was used to test the additive effect of labeling the three lowest caloric choices for vegetables, salads, and entrees. A linear logit analysis confirmed that labeling increased the probability of low calorie selections for vegetables and salads, but not for entrees. Observations of meals purchased by a subsample of 413 customers indicated labeling did not change the total caloric content of meals. The number of customers and total sales per evening were unaffected by the labeling intervention. The results suggest that manipulating environmental cues may be an effective method for changing food purchases in a cafeteria, but labeling individual items may not be the best way to decrease total calories purchased.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1984 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-85