What Consumers Don't Know Can Hurt Them: Consumer Evaluations and Disease Risk Perceptions of Restaurant Menu Items

Legislation that mandates the provision of nutrition information on restaurant menus has been proposed in several states. Tins research presents findings from an experiment that investigates how the provision of nutrition information and a health claim influence consumers' attitudes towards the product, nutrition-related attitudes, disease risk perceptions, source credibility judgments, and nutrient value estimates for restaurant menu items. In addition, how the nutrition frame (or context) within which a menu item is evaluated moderates these effects is examined. The results indicate that providing target item nutrition information, as well as a nutritional context, affects consumers' attitudes, perceptions, and judgments. In addition, the context interacts with the provision of both a health claim and nutrition information for the target item. The theoretical, managerial, consumer welfare, and public policy implications of our research findings are discussed. INTRODUCTION As Surgeon General of the United States, David Satcher warned that the obesity epidemic spreading throughout the nation could soon overtake tobacco as the leading cause of preventable deaths. More specifically, the rising death toll resulting from illnesses and diseases directly related to being overweight, and those worsened by obesity, threaten to wipe out medical advances made in the treatment of the two major causes of death in the United States, heart disease and cancer (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2001). Overweight and obese individuals are not the only ones facing the high costs associated with their conditions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that obesity costs the United States over $117 billion a year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2001). Identifying the primary cause of the obesity epidemic is not difficult--Americans are simply consuming too many calories given their level of physical activity. Determining the best way to persuade consumers to eat more healthful diets is, however, a challenging endeavor (Balasubramanian and Cole 2002; Kozup, Creyer, and Burton 2003). One promising yet relatively unexplored area of research that may help stem the rising tide of obesity focuses on better understanding how to assist consumers make more healthful foods choices when dining out. As the final review of the Healthy People 2000 report prepared by agencies of the U.S. government states, although the passage of the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) has increased the availability of nutrition information in the supermarket, "a significant challenge remains on the fronts for away-from-home foods purchased at fast-food outlets, restaurants, cafeterias, and other food service outlets" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2000, p. 79). Since information regarding the nutrient content of food prepared outside the home is often not available, consumers usually have little knowledge of the calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, and other nutritional attributes provided by these foods. The absence of reliable nutrition information for foods consumed outside the home is an especially important issue since Americans are eating an increasing number of their meals at fast-food and table-service restaurants (Kozup, Creyer, and Burton 2003). Between 1970 and 1996, the amount of food dollars spent on meals prepared outside the home rose from 26% to 38% (Lin, Frazao, and Guthrie 1999). Specific Research Objectives Consumers have easy access to important nutrition information when evaluating most food products while shopping in supermarkets and grocery store retailers because the Nutrition Facts panel on product packaging presents information regarding key nutrients in a format which is relatively easy to read and understand. However, given that Americans are eating less food prepared inside the home, and since the disclosure of nutrition information for foods served for immediate consumption is not required, many consumers are unable to evaluate accurately the healthfulness of their overall diets. …