Oral

Consumers today are flooded with information that has the potential to improve healthy eating. Nutrition information can also be misleading or inadequate, and thus hinder public health progress on the obesity epidemic. This session will explore various ways in which this information is provided: front-of-package health claims, restaurant menu nutrition labels, in-store promotional signs, and prices. Consumer use of nutrition information will be explored at the micro-level, through behavioral economics, and the macro-level through structural, environmental, and sociodemographic influences. Presenters will discuss interventions in food environments that include hospital cafeterias and restaurants. Participants will leave with an understanding of how effective these various levers are in promoting healthy eating.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe prominent messages from food product adverting and marketing that influence nutrition knowledge, and compare those to widely accepted public health nutrition goals. 2. Evaluate how a menu labeling intervention that combines calorie information with exercise energy equivalent examples influences food purchasing behavior. 3. Evaluate how pricing and labels (nutritional, organic, sustainably produced and local) at the point-of-purchase change behavior. 4. Describe the use of promotional signs in fast food and casual dining restaurant environments, and identify the association between restaurant type and healthy/unhealthy food marketing and nutrition information availability. 5. Evaluate the results of a voluntary restaurant menu labeling initiative that promotes collaboration among private business owners, research and community-based organizations, and public health departments.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)