Department of Applied Health Sciences, Murray State University, 200 N Applied Science Building, Murray, KY, 42071, USA.
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University, 900 West State Street, Marriott Hall, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
Appetite. 2018 Jun 1;125:474-485. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.02.025. Epub 2018 Mar 6.
High sodium levels in restaurant food have prompted Philadelphia and New York City to require inclusion of sodium content in addition to calories on menus to "nudge" consumers toward lower sodium foods. However, taste perceptions may impact the effectiveness of this intervention. An online survey tested whether sodium and calorie menu nutrition information (MNI) influenced consumer choices from a casual dining restaurant menu, accounting for consumers' intuition about taste of food relative to sodium, calories, and healthiness. Consumer choices were assessed based on calorie and sodium content of the menu items they selected. Participants were randomized to a menu with (1) calorie MNI only, (2) calorie plus numeric sodium MNI, (3) calorie MNI plus a sodium warning symbol for foods with 2300 mg of sodium or more, or (4) no MNI. Calorie plus numeric sodium MNI was associated with selection of meals lower in sodium compared to meals from the calorie MNI only menu or no MNI menu, but only for consumers with a taste intuition that (relatively) lower sodium, lower calorie, healthy foods were tasty. Consumers with the opposite taste intuition *(foods with these characteristics are not tasty) ordered meals higher in sodium. Inclusion of the sodium warning symbol did not result in a significantly different meal sodium content compared to the other menu conditions, regardless of taste intuition. However, differing levels of taste intuition alone, without consideration of MNI, was associated with ordering meals of significantly different calorie content. Overall, findings suggest adding calorie plus numeric sodium MNI may lead to beneficial outcomes (i.e., selecting meals lower in sodium) for some consumers and detrimental outcomes (i.e., selecting meals higher in sodium) for others, depending on their taste intuition.
餐馆食品中的高钠含量促使费城和纽约市要求在菜单上除了卡路里外还必须包含钠含量，以“引导”消费者选择低钠食品。然而，味觉感知可能会影响这种干预措施的效果。一项在线调查测试了钠和卡路里菜单营养信息（MNI）是否会影响消费者对休闲餐厅菜单的选择，同时考虑到消费者对食物相对于钠、卡路里和健康的味道的直觉。消费者的选择是根据他们选择的菜单项目的卡路里和钠含量来评估的。参与者被随机分配到一个菜单，其中（1）只有卡路里 MNI，（2）卡路里加数字钠 MNI，（3）卡路里 MNI 加一个用于含有 2300 毫克或更多钠的食物的钠警告符号，或（4）没有 MNI。与仅含有卡路里 MNI 的菜单或没有 MNI 的菜单相比，卡路里加数字钠 MNI 与选择钠含量较低的餐食相关，除非消费者有这样的味觉直觉，即（相对）低钠、低卡路里、健康的食物是美味的。具有相反味觉直觉的消费者（这些特征的食物不好吃）则点了钠含量较高的餐食。无论味觉直觉如何，包含钠警告符号并不会导致餐食的钠含量与其他菜单条件有显著差异。然而，仅考虑不同程度的味觉直觉，而不考虑 MNI，与点不同卡路里含量的餐食相关。总的来说，研究结果表明，对于一些消费者来说，添加卡路里加数字钠 MNI 可能会带来有益的结果（即选择钠含量较低的餐食），而对于其他消费者来说，可能会带来不利的结果（即选择钠含量较高的餐食），这取决于他们的味觉直觉。
