"Traffic Lights," Calorie Counts Help Consumers Order Healthier Online (IMAGE)

Carnegie Mellon University

"Traffic Lights," Calorie Counts Help Consumers Order Healthier Online

Caption

Menu labels have become a favorite tool for policymakers to fight obesity, despite a lack of evidence that the format encourages people to make healthier food choices.

However, new research from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania shows that "traffic light" color-coded labels, numeric labels and a combination of the two reduce the number of calories ordered in online food orders by about 10 percent.

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Carnegie Mellon University

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