38. Healthy Food, Unhealthy Choices
Brian Wansink
Brian C. Wansink, Applied Economics and Management, and a colleague found that healthy food restaurants often prompt consumers to treat themselves to higher-calorie side dishes, drinks, or desserts than they might when they eat at fast-food restaurants that make no health claims. The researchers determined that people also underestimate by 35 percent the number of calories that healthy restaurant foods contain. They found that asking people to reconsider restaurants’ health claims prompts them to estimate calories more accurately and discourages them from ordering as many side dishes. These studies help explain why lower-calorie menus at fast-food restaurants have not led to the expected reduction in total calorie intake and obesity rates. The researchers recommend that public policy efforts help people to better estimate the number of calories in foods.