Nutrition Information and Children's Fast Food Menu Choices

An experiment with 236 children, ages 6 to 11, tested whether providing nutrition information (calories and fat grams) or healthy heart symbol on fast food menus influenced the calories and fat content of the items they chose to order. There was evidence that children exposed to menus with heart symbols chose healthier meals than children exposed to menus with calories and fat content or menus with no nutrition information. Children of parents with inaccurate perceptions of their child's weight tended to make poorer food choices, as did children who visited fast food restaurants more frequently.