Consumers with dark green vegetables at home more likely to use nutrition information when eating out

ERS researchers used data from the 2007-08 and 2009-10 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to examine who uses nutrition information in full-service restaurants (generally defined as restaurants with wait staff). They found that healthy diet behaviors are correlated with use of nutrition information in full-service restaurants. For example, people who consult Nutrition Facts labels on grocery store foods and who store healthy foods at home are more likely to use nutrition information on restaurant menus. While people who reported rarely or never having dark green vegetables at home were as likely to go to full-service restaurants as people who always or most of the time have these vegetables at home, the first group was less likely to see and use nutrition information on restaurant menus. Among people who saw the nutrition information, just 19.1 percent of the group that “rarely or never” had dark green vegetables available at home said they used it, compared to 54.9 percent of those who said they “always” or “most of the time” had dark green vegetables available at home. This chart is from the ERS report, Consumers’ Use of Nutrition Information When Eating Out, released on June 27, 2014.