(P13-002-24) Examining the Impact of Calorie Menu Labelling on University Students’ Food Choices

Objectives: The US Affordable Care Act calorie posting mandate requires restaurant chains to disclose calorie information on their food items. Assessments of the effect of calorie menu labeling on dietary choices have reported inconsistent findings. Many studies utilize self-reported purchase information and others suffer from methodological shortcomings. This study uses objective food sales data and a differences-in-differences empirical strategy to examine the impact of calorie menu labeling on calories purchased by college students after the mandate came into effect nationally. We hypothesize that the posting of calorie information at fast food establishments on the college campus would result in a significant decrease in average calories purchased by students.

Methods: A sample of the food sales data from three fast-food restaurants (Bojangles, Chick-fil-A, and Wendy’s) during the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 school sessions was used for the analysis. We utilized a difference in differences empirical strategy, where we compared changes in transaction level calorie consumption at the fast food restaurants that posted calorie information in the summer of 2018 (Bojangles and Chick-fil-A) with the fast food restaurant that began posting calorie information before the study period (Wendy’s).

Results: Contrary to the expected hypothesis, we observed increases in average calories per transaction up to a year after the implementation of the menu labeling policy at a public university. The difference-in-difference estimates suggest statistically significant increases in the full sample and the subgroup analysis.

Conclusions: These findings underscore the need for nutrition education and counseling in specific contexts and settings. By combining knowledge with personalized guidance and support, individuals can make sustainable and positive changes to their eating habits further ensuring the effectiveness and success of policies aimed at improving the nutritional and health outcomes of target populations.

Funding Sources: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.