‘紅綠燈’卡路里標籤幫助人們做出更加明智的菜單選擇

‘Traffic Light’ Calorie Labels Help People Make Smarter Menu Choices

‘紅綠燈’卡路里標籤幫助人們做出更加明智的菜單選擇

Would you still order the turkey club with chips if the menu revealed it was packed with 900 calories? What about if there was a stoplight printed next to it? A new study shows that labels like these help people make better food choices.

如果菜單上顯示薯條火雞俱樂部含900卡路里的熱量，那麼你還會點這道菜嗎？如果它旁邊印出了紅綠燈，又會怎樣呢？一項新研究表明，像這樣的標籤會幫助人們做出更好的食物選擇。

The research, published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, analyzed the lunch habits of 450 employees at a health care company. Some people ordered off a menu with calorie counts. Others had a menu with traffic light labels: green lights (indicating meals with 140-400 calories), yellow lights (400-550 calories), and red lights (550-950 calories). A third group saw both numeric counts and traffic lights. And a control group had menus with no calorie labels.

發表在《公共政策與營銷雜誌》上的研究分析了一家醫療公司450名員工的午餐習慣。有些人點餐的菜單上含有卡路里數目。還有一些人他們的菜單上有着紅綠燈標籤：綠燈（表明食物含有140-400卡路里），黃燈（400-55-卡路里），紅燈（550-950卡路里）。第三組既能看到數字又能看到紅綠燈標籤。對照組人的菜單沒有任何卡路里標籤。

It turned out the numeric counts, traffic lights, and the combo of the two were all equally effective at helping people order smarter. When labels were present, the employees ordered meals with about 10% fewer calories. "These findings suggest that consumers may benefit most from help in identifying relatively healthier choices but rely little on information about the exact caloric content of items," the study authors write.

結果表明，數字組，紅綠燈組還有兩者結合組在幫助人們更明智點單方面同樣有效。當有標籤時，員工們點餐的卡路里含量會下降10%。“這些結果表明卡路里標籤幫助識別相對更健康的選擇，消費者們從中最爲獲益，但是他們卻很少依賴於物品所含有的確切卡路里量這一信息，”研究作者寫道。

Already chain restaurants with more than 20 locations are required by the FDA to list calorie counts on their menus. If there’s good data to show that these counts influence how people order, it may compel the chains to serve up healthier fare, says VanEpps: "If they [become] uncomfortable with the fact that they have meals with 2,000 calories, they may change what they offer." (In other words, it could mean the end of these nine famously outrageous calorie bombs.)

美國食品及藥物管理局已經要求有超過20個營業點的連鎖飯店在他們的菜單上標上卡路里數量，這可能會迫使連鎖店去供應更加健康的食品，VanEpps說道：“如果他們對食物含有2000卡路里這樣的事實（感到）不舒服，也許他們要改變他們所提供的食物。”（換句話說，這可能意味着這9個出名離譜的卡路里炸彈的終結。）

“As technology continues to advance, we have the ability to access calorie information in easier and quicker ways,” says VanEpps.

“隨着技術的持續進步，我們會有能力更簡單快捷的得到卡路里信息，” VanEpps說道。