Behavioral Economics and Food Choice

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Obesity, Overweight

In brief

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.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01061905

Run by

University of Pennsylvania

People needed

4

Starts

2010-02-01

Expected to finish

2011-06-01

Last updated by the study team

2011-11-16

Who can join

Age: any. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Aramark Hospital Cafeteria or Cafe with the ability to provide sales data

Where it is running

• ARAMARK healthcare at North Shore University Health System — Evanston, Illinois, United States
• ARAMARK Healthcare at Henry Ford Hospital — Detroit, Michigan, United States
• ARAMARK healthcare at Main Line Health — Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States
• ARAMARK healthcare at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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