Study shows nutritional information influences food choices in college students

• Students posed with those lunch-line dilemmas were more likely to select the healthier option when a school posted nutritional information at the cafeteria counter, according to a new study.
• Researchers at Penn State University reported their findings in the latest issue of the Journal of Child Nutrition and Management after studying students' eating habits at six high schools in Pennsylvania in the fall of 2003.
• Students weren't encouraged by teachers or cafeteria workers to make more health-conscious selections, and there were no changes in how food was prepared, said one of the study's authors, Martha Conklin.
• Currently, schools aren't required to post nutritional information in a cafeteria, though many schools may mail the information home to parents or post it on a Web site.
• In the study, only a few entrees were tested with nutritional boxes posted _ typically, pizza with or without pepperoni or burgers with or without cheese.
• Comparisons couldn't be made between, for instance, a cheeseburger and a garden salad.
• Even so, the results were encouraging, said Marilyn Tanner, a registered dietitian at Washington University in St. Louis and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
• At one school, an average of 380 pepperoni pizzas were ordered each day during a six-week period when no nutritional boxes were displayed.
• In the ensuing six weeks, when nutritional information was posted, an average of 346 pepperoni pizzas were ordered.
• In another district, one school tested the nutritional boxes and another school did not.
• Students at the first school ordered an average of 61 cheeseburgers per day during the non-test period; that declined to 43 per day while nutrition information was posted.
• There was no change in the second school.