Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at El Paso, El Paso, TX, United States; Department of Nutrition, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States.
Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture, Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at El Paso, El Paso, TX, United States.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2024 Nov;120(5):1207-1214. doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.09.007. Epub 2024 Sep 14.
The Patient Protection US Affordable Care Act (ACA) energy posting mandate requires restaurant chains to disclose information on the energy content of their food items. Assessments of the effect of menu energy labeling on dietary choices have reported inconsistent findings.
This study examined the impact of menu energy labeling on food items purchased by college students after the mandate was enacted nationally.
Student food sales data from purchases made at 3 fast-food restaurants during the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 academic years at a university campus were used for the analysis. The total sample included 1662 students on the university meal plan; these students generated 145,295 food transactions at the restaurants over the study period. We utilized a difference-in-differences (DiD) empirical strategy, comparing changes in transaction-level energy purchases at 2 fast-food restaurants B and C (FFRB and FFRC - treatment groups) that posted energy information in the summer of 2018 with another fast-food restaurant A (FFRA - control group) that began posting energy information before the study period.
We observed increases in the mean energy content per transaction after implementing the menu-labeling policy. The DiD estimates found an increase of 20.6 in the mean calories of energy purchased per transaction at the treatment restaurants relative to the control restaurant. In the subgroup analyses, the DiD estimates indicated calories of energy increased: 18.7 for female students, 20.5 for male students, 23.5 for non-Hispanic Black students, 30.2 for students eligible for federal financial aid, and 19.9 for students not eligible for federal financial aid.
The results suggest that the ACA energy menu-labeling policy led to an increase in the energy content per transaction by students at a public university. This paper highlights the need for more research to better understand the determinants of food choice among college students.
《美国患者保护与平价医疗法案》（ACA）要求连锁餐厅公布食品的能量含量信息，这一能源公告要求。评估菜单能量标签对饮食选择的影响的报告得出了不一致的发现。
本研究在美国全国范围内颁布该规定后，评估菜单能量标签对大学生购买食品的影响。
使用大学校园内三家快餐店在 2017/2018 学年和 2018/2019 学年期间学生购买食品的销售数据进行分析。总样本包括使用大学套餐计划的 1662 名学生；在研究期间，这些学生在餐厅共进行了 145295 笔食品交易。我们采用了差异（DiD）实证策略，比较了在 2018 年夏季公布能源信息的两家快餐店（FFRB 和 FFRC-处理组）和另一家在研究前开始公布能源信息的快餐店（FFRA-对照组）的交易层面的能源购买量的变化。
我们观察到在实施菜单标签政策后，每笔交易的平均能量含量有所增加。DiD 估计发现，与对照组相比，治疗餐厅每笔交易购买的能量卡路里平均增加了 20.6。在亚组分析中，DiD 估计表明，能量卡路里增加了：女性学生增加了 18.7，男性学生增加了 20.5，非西班牙裔黑人学生增加了 23.5，符合联邦财政援助资格的学生增加了 30.2，不符合联邦财政援助资格的学生增加了 19.9。
结果表明，ACA 能源菜单标签政策导致公立大学学生每笔交易的能量含量增加。本文强调需要进行更多研究，以更好地了解大学生的食物选择决定因素。
