Perceptions of university students regarding calories, food healthiness, and the importance of calorie information in menu labelling

This 2015 study conducted focus groups with Brazilian university students to find out their perceptions of the concept of calories, how it relates to food healthiness, and the role of calorie information on menus in influencing food choices in different restaurant settings. Among the 21 undergraduate students who took part in this cohort, calories were understood to be energy units and their excessive intake was associated with weight/fat gain. However, food healthiness was not associated with calorie content, but rather with food composition as a whole. Calorie information on restaurant menus was not considered enough to influence food choice, with only some participants also using calorie information on menus to control food intake or body weight. The discussions between the students suggested their comprehension of healthy eating is a more complex issue than calorie counting, and they would need more information on nutrition, not only about calorie content, in order to influence food choices in restaurants. [NPID: perception, calories, food choice, decision making, weight gain, calorie content, nutrition]

Year: 2015

Reference: Fernandes, A. C., de Oliveira, R. C., Rodrigues, V. M., Fiates, G. M., & da Costa Proença, R. P. (2015). Perceptions of university students regarding calories, food healthiness, and the importance of calorie information in menu labelling. Appetite, 91, 173–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.04.042