Traffic-Light Signals On Menus Could Help Fight Obesity, Study Finds

The new traffic light system on menus encourages people to make healthier food choices. Experts say that it could prove the latest weapon in the fight against obesity, as consumers would benefit from easier to understand information about what is, and isn't, a healthy food choice.

Dr Julie Downs, Associate Professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), said: “We are looking for more and better ways to help people make decisions about the food that they eat, to help them better understand the nutritional content so that they can use that information when they make choices.'”

 

The US Food and Drug Administration has said that in May 2017 it will begin mandating numeric calorie labeling for restaurants, movie theaters, vending machines, and food delivery services.
States such as Vermont and cities including New York and Philadelphia have already begun to implement broad calorie-labeling mandates.

 

For the study, 249 employees at a large corporation ordered lunches through a specially designed website. The menus each had numeric calorie labels, traffic light labels, both kinds of labels or no nutritional information. Over the six-week study period, 803 orders were placed by the study participants.

 

Researchers from CMU and the University of Pennsylvania, compared the calorie content of the ordered lunches.
They found that each of the three calorie labeling conditions – numbers alone, traffic lights alone, or both labels together – reduced calories ordered by about 10 percent, compared to orders involving no calorie labels.

 

“Calorie labeling appears to be effective in an online environment where consumers have fewer distractions, and the simpler traffic-light labeling seems as effective as standard calorie numbers,” said Dr. Eric Van Epps, a CMU alumnus and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

“The similar effects of traffic light and numeric labeling suggests to us that consumers are making decisions based more on which choices seem healthier than on absolute calorie numbers.”

 

The results also revealed the traffic light labels were effective without standard calorie number information. Furthermore, no benefit was found from combining the two types of labels, the researchers concluded.

 

As predicted, the simple traffic light labeling system was particularly effective among participants who scored poorly on a simple numeracy test.

 

Calorie labeling overall also had a greater impact among obese participants than the slimmer volunteers. 

 

Dr. Van Epps said: “Future studies looking at different menu types and sets of participants are necessary, but this study on its own provides clear evidence that both calorie labeling methods can be effective when order meals online.”

 

“It's important that research be conducted in all ordering contexts where calorie labeling mandates might be applied.”

 

George Loewenstein, the Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Economics and Psychology, at the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences at CMU, said: “The jury is still out on whether calorie labeling is an effective policy for reducing calorie intake.”

 

“We still don't know whether it will be more or less effective when the information has become ubiquitous and expected.”

 

“And, we also don't know whether people who cut back on calories in a meal will compensate in ways that offset the benefit, for example by being more likely to snack or less likely to exercise, later in the day.”