College Students Must Overcome Barriers to Use Calorie Labels in Fast-Food Restaurants

Objective: To explore predictors of intention of college students to use calorie labels on fast-food menus and differences in calories ordered after viewing calorie information. Design: Quasi-experimental design. Participants selected a meal from a menu without calorie labels, selected a meal from the same menu with calorie labels, and completed a survey that assessed demographics, dietary habits, Theory of Planned Behavior constructs, and potential barriers to use of calorie labeling. Setting: A southern university. Participants: Undergraduate university students (n = 97). Main Outcome Measures: Predictors of intention to use calorie labels and whether calories selected from the nonlabeled menu differed from the labeled menu. Analysis: Confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis, multiple regression, and paired t tests. Results: Participants ordered significantly fewer calories (P = .02) when selecting from the labeled menu vs the menu without labels. Attitudes (P = .006), subjective norms (P < .001), and perceived behavioral control (P = .01) predicted intention to use calorie information but did not predict a difference in the calories ordered. Hunger (P = .03) and cost (P = .04) were barriers to using the calorie information. Conclusions and Implications: If students can overcome barriers, calorie labeling could provide information that college students need to select lower-calorie items at fast-food restaurants.