Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32379786›Full record

ArticlePloS one2020

Menu labeling, calories, and nutrient density: Evidence from chain restaurants.

Daniel E Ho, Oluchi Mbonu, Anne McDonough, Rebecca Pottash

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. What's On the Menu? Towards Predicting Nutritional Quality of Food Environments.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Daniel E HoWilliam Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott Professor of Law, Professor of Political Science, Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic and Policy Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-2195-5469
Oluchi MbonuPh.D. Student, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America.
Anne McDonoughResearch Fellow, Stanford Law School, Stanford, CA, United States of America.
Rebecca PottashJ.D., Stanford Law School, Stanford, CA, United States of America.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The Food and Drug Administration's menu labeling rule requires chain restaurants to prominently display calories, while leaving other nutritional information (e.g., fat, sodium, sugar) to the request of consumers. We use rich micronutrient data from 257 large chain brands and 24,076 menu items to examine whether calories are correlated with widely used "nutrient profile" scores that measure healthfulness based on nutrient density. We show that calories are indeed statistically significant predictors of nutrient density. However, as a substantive matter, the correlation is highly attenuated (partial R2 < 0.01). Our findings (a) suggest that the promise of calorie labeling to improve nutrient intake quality at restaurants is limited and (b) clarify the basis for transparency of nutrient composition beyond calories to promote healthy menu choices.

Indexed as

Food LabelingNutritive ValueProduct LabelingEnergy IntakeHumansMicronutrientsRestaurantsUnited StatesMicronutrients

Identifiers

PMID32379786
PMCPMC7205205

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.