Nutrition labeling in King County: A Focus group investigation of consumers' perspectives

Background and significance: King County recently passed a regulation that requires chain restaurants to have nutrition information for standard menu items at the point of purchase. This qualitative investigation study is providing insights on how the regulation is impacting adolescents and parents of young children from low-income and highly diverse racial and ethic minority populations, who are at highest risk of obesity and related disease, attending to the issue of equity. Methods: We conducted 11 focus groups using a purposive sampling strategy for the selection of participants and composition of the focus groups. We focused the inquiry on: (1) What factors are influencing the choice of restaurants and menu selection, and (2) How people are processing and using the nutrition labeling information. We used a combination of inductive and deductive strategies in data collection and analysis. Preliminary findings: (1) Having a healthy meal is not a main factor influencing choice. Price, satisfying meal, taste, clean place, convenient location, and children's picks are more important. Marketing practices of fast food industry are impacting children and adolescents' choices. (2) The way information is currently posted is not very clear or easy to find. More education might be beneficial. Information is seen as more useful if having health concerns. Very few focus group participants are already using nutrition labeling to make healthier choices. Our findings are consistent with newest quantitative research from other studies and might help explain why such regulation is having a modest impact on low income minority communities.