Behavioral Economics and Food Choice

Summary

This is the second in a series of pilot interventions we are conducting to assess how principles from behavioral economics can be applied to improve consumers' food choices. In collaboration with Aramark, the food service vendor, we intend to examine if calorie labeling in different formats impacts consumers choice of bottled beverages in hospital cafeterias. Specifically, we will be testing whether signage that conveys to consumers the number of calories in each bottled beverage will increase the number of zero-calorie beverages sold relative to non-zero-calorie beverages. Likewise, we will test whether signage that conveys calories in exercise equivalents increases the sale of zero-calorie beverages. Lastly, we will test if signage conveying standard calorie information in conjunction with exercise equivalents increases the sale of zero-calorie beverages. We will measure the differential effect of each of these three formats for calorie information.

Conditions

• Obesity
• Overweight

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Calorie information

Posting of Calorie information for sugar-sweetened and zero-calorie beverages

BEHAVIORAL

Exercise Equivalent only

Posting of only exercise equivalents (e.g. 45 minutes on a treadmill) for both sugar-sweetened and zero-calorie beverages, prominently on a poster.

BEHAVIORAL

Calorie & Exercise equivalent information

Posting of both calorie and exercise equivalents information for both sugar-sweetened and zero-calorie beverages, prominently on a poster.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Carnegie Mellon University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Pennsylvania

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD · University of Pennsylvania

• J. Jane S. Jue, MD · Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania

• Matthew J Press, MD · Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania

• David Asch, MD, MBA · University of Pennsylvania

• George Loewenstein, PhD · Carnegie Mellon University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2010-02-28

Primary Completion

2010-05-31

Completion

2011-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations