Master of Science / Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health / Delores Chambers / With increasing global e-commerce scenario, online shopping has become a part of our day-to-day life for products ranging from food to clothing and electronics. With globalization on one hand and tremendous change in the lifestyle of people, on the other hand, eating food outside of the home has also become an inevitable part of life nowadays. This study was designed to understand how photographs and information of the products influence the purchase behavior of consumers, to increase the purchase intent and liking of clothing sold online and food in a restaurant. The objectives of this study were to determine which type of photograph/description would have higher liking and purchase intent by consumers when they are shopping for clothes online and when ordering food in a restaurant. It also aimed to use different types of product descriptions to find any differences in overall liking, product perception, and purchase intent. An online survey was conducted with Indian women (n=600) through Qualtrics software. Data about demographics, overall liking, purchase intent and level of information gained based on the photographs were inquired for different type of photographic presentation of saris and Indian curries in two different sections. ANOVA, Correspondence Analysis (CA), frequency count analysis and descriptive statistics were employed for data analysis using XLSTAT software. In case of online shopping for clothing, especially saris, the results revealed that adding photographs of a model with/without a description to be a better presentation method as it acts as a virtual representation of the seller and is believed to establish trust between the consumers and the sellers. This thereby would lead to significantly higher overall liking, level of being informed and purchase intent. Similarly, in the case of restaurant shopping for food where the effect of photographs on a restaurant menu was studied, adding photographs of the food along with the sides with/without description was found to be a better presentation method. This was in turn related to significantly higher overall liking, level of being informed and purchase intent. Though there are no differences in the type of description added to the picture, adding information about the product was still found to be a critical factor for higher liking and purchase intent in both cases.

Obesity is a serious health concern in Canada. Thirty-seven percent of the population are overweight and approximately 25% are obese. Increased energy intake from eating outside the home has contributed to the rise in obesity. Approximately one quarter of all Canadians consume food in a quick-service restaurant on a given day. Although not all food consumed outside the home is of poor nutritional quality, restaurants generally offer foods that have larger portions, and are higher in calories and fat. Menu labelling has the potential to promote healthier eating by informing consumers about the calorie content of meals. Currently, there is little or no research on possible unintended effects of displaying calorie information at restaurants and quick-service establishments. In particular, it is unclear how such information would affect individuals with clinical eating disorders, or those with eating disturbances. In the current study, 325 female undergraduate students over the age of 16 took part in a 10-minute paper-based survey after meal consumption in a cafeteria on the University of Waterloo campus. The study employed a pre-post design, with data collection occurring in paired and unpaired samples one month before calorie information was added to menu boards, and one week after. In the 299 participants with usable data the prevalence of eating disturbances (EAT-26 > 20) was 10.4%. Calorie consumption decreased from baseline (mean=678.2 kcal) to follow-up (mean=602.3 kcal; p=0.049). There were no statistically significant changes in any of the other outcomes from baseline to follow-up, including body image satisfaction, anxiety, mood, and frequency of engaging in unhealthy behaviours. Additionally, there were no interactions between eating disturbance level and time, which suggests that calorie labels did not differentially affect those in this high-risk population. Overall, no adverse outcomes related to eating disturbances were associated with the implementation of calorie labels in this at-risk population. The results have potential implications for menu labelling regulations.

Obesity is a serious health concern in Canada. Thirty-seven percent of the population are overweight and approximately 25% are obese. Increased energy intake from eating outside the home has contributed to the rise in obesity. Approximately one quarter of all Canadians consume food in a quick-service restaurant on a given day. Although not all food consumed outside the home is of poor nutritional quality, restaurants generally offer foods that have larger portions, and are higher in calories and fat. Menu labelling has the potential to promote healthier eating by informing consumers about the calorie content of meals. Currently, there is little or no research on possible unintended effects of displaying calorie information at restaurants and quick-service establishments. In particular, it is unclear how such information would affect individuals with clinical eating disorders, or those with eating disturbances. In the current study, 325 female undergraduate students over the age of 16 took part in a 10-minute paper-based survey after meal consumption in a cafeteria on the University of Waterloo campus. The study employed a pre-post design, with data collection occurring in paired and unpaired samples one month before calorie information was added to menu boards, and one week after. In the 299 participants with usable data the prevalence of eating disturbances (EAT-26 > 20) was 10.4%. Calorie consumption decreased from baseline (mean=678.2 kcal) to follow-up (mean=602.3 kcal; p=0.049). There were no statistically significant changes in any of the other outcomes from baseline to follow-up, including body image satisfaction, anxiety, mood, and frequency of engaging in unhealthy behaviours. Additionally, there were no interactions between eating disturbance level and time, which suggests that calorie labels did not differentially affect those in this high-risk population. Overall, no adverse outcomes related to eating disturbances were associated with the implementation of calorie labels in this at-risk population. The results have potential implications for menu labelling regulations.

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Obesity has risen drastically in the past few decades. Some experts contribute this to an increased prevalence of eating food away from home and consuming large portion sizes. A popular discussion in policy and legislation arenas has been mandatory implementation of nutrition information on restaurant chain menus. Menu labeling in restaurants that have 20 or more locations nationally was first implemented by New York City in an effort to increase consumer awareness of the calorie content of menu entrees. Since New York City’s implementation of restaurant menu labeling in 2008, there have been conflicting studies on whether nutrition menu labeling improves consumers’ selection of healthier menu items. Conducted on consumers in Lexington, Kentucky, this study focuses on factors influencing nutrition information on restaurant menus. This experimental research design included one menu with calorie information next to the menu items while the other menu did not provide calorie information. Also, this study compares the level of hunger of participants to their restaurant menu selection and participant’s BMI status to their restaurant menu selection. This study shows that when calorie information is provided, it does not influence the participants purchasing behavior.

abstract: The increase in obesity since the 1980's has been associated with fast-food consumption. In hopes that calorie labeling will be an effective tool to combat obesity, congress included a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) that will require all restaurants with twenty or more locations to post calorie information for each menu item. Current research has provided mixed results regarding the effectiveness of calorie labeling, but overall seems to suggest that calorie labeling may only be effective among certain populations. In September, 2012 McDonald's began to post calorie labels on their menu boards before it was federally mandated under the ACA. This policy provided the opportunity to study the impact of calorie labeling on the purchasing behavior of McDonald's patrons. This cross-sectional study was designed to determine if self-perception of diet, self-perception of health, smoking, physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, or knowledge of daily calorie requirements is associated with the likelihood of noticing or using calorie labels, or total calories purchased. In addition, relationships between noticing or using calorie labels with total calories purchased were also examined. Receipts and survey responses were collected from 330 participants who purchased food and beverage items from 27 different McDonald's locations within a 20 mile radius of downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Results indicated that only 16.1% of the sample reported using calorie labels, and those who reported using calorie labels purchased an average of 136 fewer calories. Multivariate analysis indicated there were no statistically significant relationships between self-perception of diet, self-perception of health, smoking, physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, or knowledge of daily calorie requirements with the likelihood of noticing or using calorie labels, or total calories purchased. However, it is possible that the small sample size of participants using calorie labeling precluded any statistically significant relationships among these variables from emerging. Further research with larger sample sizes should be conducted, to investigate individual level factors that may be associated with use of calorie labeling. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Nutrition 2013

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Although calorie information at the point-of-purchase at fast food restaurants is proposed as a method to decrease calorie choices and combat obesity, research results have been mixed. Much of the supportive research has weak methodology, and is limited. There is a demonstrated need to develop better techniques to assist consumers to make lower calorie food choices. Eating at fast food restaurants has been positively associated with weight gain. The current study explored the possibility of adding exercise equivalents (EE) (physical activity required to burn off the calories in the food), along with calorie information as a possible way to facilitate lower calorie choice at the point-of-choice in fast food restaurants. This three-group experimental study, in 18-34 year old, overweight and obese women, examines whether presenting caloric information in the form of EE at the point-of-choice at fast food restaurants, will lead to lower calorie food choices compared to presenting simple caloric information or no information at all. Methods: A randomized repeated measures experiment was conducted. Participants ordered a fast food meal from Burger King with menus that contained only the names of the food choices (Lunch 1). One week later (Lunch 2), study participants were given one of three menus that varied: no information, calorie information, or calorie information and EE. Study participants included 62 college aged students. Additionally, the study controlled for dietary restraint by blocking participants, before randomization, to the three groups. Results: A repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted. The study was not sufficiently powered, and while the study was designed to determine large effect sizes, a small effect size of .026, was determined. No significant differences were found in the foods ordered among the various menu conditions. Conclusion: Menu labeling alone might not be enough to reduce calories at the point-of-choice at restaurants. Additional research is necessary to determine if calorie information and EE at the point-of-choice would lead to fewer calories chosen at a meal. Studies should also look at long-term, repeated exposure to determine the effectiveness of calories and or EE at the point-of-choice at fast food restaurants.

Many researchers and speech user interface practitioners assert that interactive voice response (IVR) menus must be relatively short due to constraints of the human memory system. These individuals commonly cite Miller's (1956) paper to support their claims. The current paper argues that these authors commonly misuse the information provided in Miller's paper and that hypotheses drawn from modern theories of working memory (e.g., Baddeley and Hitch, 1974) would lead to the opposite conclusion – that reducing menu length by creating a greater number of menus and a deeper structure will actually be more demanding on users' working memories and will lead to poorer performance and poorer user satisfaction. The primary purpose of this series of experiments was to gain a greater understanding of the role of working memory in speech-enabled IVR use. The experiments also sought to determine whether theories of visual search and signal detection theory (SDT) could be used to predict auditory search behavior. Results of this experiment indicate that creating a deeper structure with shorter menus is detrimental to performance and satisfaction and more demanding of working memory resource. Further the experiment provides support for arguments developed from Macgregor, Lee, and Lam's dual criterion decision model and is a first step toward applying SDT to the IVR domain.

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