Improving Standards for Nutrition in Restaurants: The San Antonio °Por Vida! Initiative

Introduction: In response to high rates of obesity and diabetes, the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) partnered with professional dietitians and local restaurants to create ¡Por Vida!- a healthy menu initiative for food service venues.  ¡Por Vida! is currently implemented in restaurants, worksites, hospitals, and universities and uses a point-of-decision prompt to identify healthy menu items based on specific nutritional criteria.  

Approach: The Healthy Restaurants Coalition was created and developed a shared goal of partnership and cooperation to promote healthier menu items in restaurants.  Local registered dietitians developed nutrition criteria based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and partnered with local restaurants to create healthy menu items labeled with point-of-decision prompts.  External program evaluation included environmental assessments; key informant interviews of restaurant managers and owners; sales data collection; and patron awareness surveys to collect information on if the patrons saw the logo and if the logo impacted their purchasing decision. 

Results: Currently there are 13 restaurants and 10 institutional settings in the program.  There are 110 total locations with 620 ¡Por Vida! selections on menus.  The program has grown to other communities in Texas such as Williamson and Gillespie Counties with several others looking to join soon. 

Discussion: The ¡Por Vida! initiative represents a cooperative partnership between public health, the food service industry and other influential groups to create solutions to the rising obesity and diabetes rates.