Reducing Calories, Fat, Saturated Fat, and Sodium in Restaurant Menu Items: Effects on Consumer Acceptance

Overview

Journal Obesity (Silver Spring)

Specialties Endocrinology
Nutritional Sciences
Physiology

Date 2016 Nov 29

PMID 27891828

Citations 14

Authors

Anjali A Patel

Nanette V Lopez

Harry T Lawless

Valentine Njike

Mariana Beleche

David L Katz

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To assess consumer acceptance of reductions of calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium to current restaurant recipes.

Methods: Twenty-four menu items, from six restaurant chains, were slightly modified and moderately modified by reducing targeted ingredients. Restaurant customers (n = 1,838) were recruited for a taste test and were blinded to the recipe version as well as the purpose of the study. Overall consumer acceptance was measured using a 9-point hedonic (like/dislike) scale, likelihood to purchase scale, Just-About-Right (JAR) 5-point scale, penalty analysis, and alienation analysis.

Results: Overall, modified recipes of 19 menu items were scored similar to (or better than) their respective current versions. Eleven menu items were found to be acceptable in the slightly modified recipe version, and eight menu items were found to be acceptable in the moderately modified recipe version. Acceptable ingredient modifications resulted in a reduction of up to 26% in calories and a reduction of up to 31% in sodium per serving.

Conclusions: The majority of restaurant menu items with small reductions of calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium were acceptable. Given the frequency of eating foods away from home, these reductions could be effective in creating dietary improvements for restaurant diners.

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