Federal Calorie Menu Labeling Policy and Calories Purchased in Restaurants in a National Fast Food Chain: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Menu labels were federally mandated in May 2018; however, to the authors' knowledge, no study has evaluated the impact of the national rollout of this legislation in restaurants using a comparison group to account for potential bias.

Methods

Using synthetic control methods, Taco Bell restaurants that implemented menu labels after nationwide labeling (n=5,060 restaurants) were matched to restaurants that added calorie labels to menus after local labeling legislation (and before nationwide labeling). The effect of menu labeling on calories purchased per transaction after nationwide labeling between groups (i.e., "later-treated" and "early-treated" restaurants) was estimated using a 2-way fixed effects regression model, with time modeled as relative month from impl

SUBMITTER: Rummo PE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12619918 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature