Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
Am J Prev Med. 2019 Dec;57(6):e181-e193. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.06.024.
Policymakers are interested in requiring chain restaurants to display sodium warning labels on menus to reduce sodium consumption. This study examined the influence of label design on consumers' hypothetical choices, meal perceptions, and knowledge.
Four sequential, randomized, controlled online experiments were conducted.
SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Across all 4 experiments, 10,412 sociodemographically diverse participants were recruited online through Survey Sampling International and Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Participants were randomized to view restaurant menus with either no sodium label (control) or 1 of 13 sodium warning labels that varied the text (e.g., "sodium warning" versus "high sodium"), icons (e.g., stop sign), and colors (red/black) used. Participants placed a hypothetical meal order and rated restaurant meal perceptions. Data were collected and analyzed in 2016-2019.
The primary outcome was sodium content of hypothetical restaurant choices. Secondary outcomes included restaurant meal perceptions and sodium knowledge.
In Experiments 1-3, all warning labels reduced average sodium ordered across both restaurants (by 19-81 mg) versus controls, with some of the largest reductions from traffic light and stop sign labels, but results were not statistically significant. In a larger, preregistered replication (Experiment 4) testing traffic light and red stop sign labels versus control, traffic light and red stop sign labels significantly reduced average sodium ordered across both restaurants (-68 mg, p=0.002 and -46 mg, p=0.049, respectively). Warnings also significantly increased participants' knowledge of sodium content and perceived health risks associated with high-sodium meals compared with no label.
Traffic light and red stop sign warning labels significantly reduced sodium ordered compared with a control. Warning labels also increased knowledge about high sodium content in restaurant meals. Designs with warning text are likely to improve consumer understanding.
政策制定者有兴趣要求连锁餐厅在菜单上展示钠警示标签，以减少钠的摄入量。本研究考察了标签设计对消费者假设选择、用餐感知和知识的影响。
进行了四项连续的、随机的、对照的在线实验。
地点/参与者：在所有 4 项实验中，通过 Survey Sampling International 和 Amazon Mechanical Turk 在线招募了 10412 名社会人口统计学上多样化的参与者。
参与者被随机分配查看餐厅菜单，要么没有钠标签（对照），要么查看 13 个钠警示标签中的 1 个，这些标签在文本（例如，“钠警示”与“高钠”）、图标（例如，停止标志）和颜色（红色/黑色）上有所不同。参与者会下一个假设的餐单并对餐厅餐食感知进行评分。数据于 2016-2019 年收集和分析。
主要结果是假设餐厅选择的钠含量。次要结果包括餐厅餐食感知和钠知识。
在实验 1-3 中，所有警示标签都降低了所有餐厅的平均钠摄入量（减少 19-81mg），与对照相比，而一些最大的减少来自交通灯和停止标志标签，但结果没有统计学意义。在一个更大的、预先注册的复制实验（实验 4）中，测试交通灯和红色停止标志标签与对照相比，交通灯和红色停止标志标签显著降低了两个餐厅的平均钠摄入量（分别减少 68mg，p=0.002 和减少 46mg，p=0.049）。与无标签相比，警告还显著增加了参与者对钠含量和高钠餐相关健康风险的知识。
与对照相比，交通灯和红色停止标志警示标签显著减少了钠的摄入量。警告还增加了对餐厅餐食中高钠含量的了解。带有警示文字的设计可能会提高消费者的理解。
