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Healthy Convenience: Nudging Students to Make Healthier Choices in the Lunchroom
Author(s) -
Smith Laura Elizabeth,
Just David R.,
Wansink Brian C.,
Wallace Christine H.,
Chua Hanswalter P.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.781.25
Subject(s) - cafeteria , purchasing , consumption (sociology) , advertising , food choice , psychology , serving size , environmental health , medicine , marketing , food science , business , chemistry , social science , pathology , sociology
Many students cite lack of time as one of the major constraints determining what they eat for lunch at school. In some schools, students receive as little as 15–20 minutes to purchase and eat their lunch which may encourage students to take the more convenient and often less healthy options such as a hot dog or chicken patty. The goal of this study was to encourage students to eat healthier by making the healthier foods more convenient. Food sales, consumption and food waste were measured for 6 weeks before the intervention in a cafeteria where there were two identical serving lines and both healthier and less healthy items were available on both lines. Then, one of the lines was converted into an express line that only offered healthy options such as sub sandwiches, salad, yogurt and fruit. The other line remained the same offering all items. Sales, consumption and food waste were measured for 6 weeks. Results show a 21% increase in the number of healthy items purchased and an 8% increase in unhealthy items purchased after the introduction of the express line. Although there was a slight increase in unhealthy items purchased, total consumption of these items decreased by 38%. This study indicates that changing the convenience of existing food options can drastically change purchasing behavior and consumption of foods available in the school lunchroom.