A recent Ohio State study shows that students will make healthy food choices if given the opportunity to make informed decisions.
Researchers placed posters with the nutrition facts of 12 entrees at Marketplace throughout the dining center. In the two weeks that the posters were there, researchers observed a significant decrease in consumers purchasing high-calorie entrees. The consumption of low-calorie entrees increased without a reduction in revenue, said Gail Kaye, one of the researchers.
After the study was complete, OSU Residence and Dining Services lowered the calories of some higher-calorie dishes. The highest-calorie entree Marketplace serves, chicken and broccoli alfredo, was lowered from 839 to 667 calories, a reduction of 172 calories.
“I think the study had something to do with it,” Kaye said.
“Restaurants can lower calories by very modest reconsideration of recipes.”
Consuming an extra 172 calories a day can increase a student’s body weight by 11 pounds annually, said Kaye, a program director with OSU Extension and the department of human nutrition in the College of Education and Human Ecology.
Maggie Reading, a first-year in nursing, and fellow first-year Brittany Wagner, an undecided first-year, both think it’s a great idea to post nutrition facts in dining halls.
“The ‘Freshman 15′ is a big deal,” Reading said. “Posting the info will help people avoid it.”
Mark Newton, OSU executive chef for Residence and Dining Services, likes the idea of putting posters with nutrition facts around dining halls. He plans on having most locations posted with the information by the end of Spring Quarter, he said.
Requiring restaurants to supply nutrition facts on their food is part of the proposed health care legislation that rests in the House of Representatives, Kaye said.
College students differ from the average consumer in that “they aren’t eating three meals a day,” Newton said. “So the emphasis is on creating meals with quality calories.”
Newton suggests the RPAC’s Courtside Café and the Sprouts Café at Kennedy Commons to those who want more nutritive choices, such as whole grains and alternative proteins.
OSU provides nutrition information for entrees on the dining service’s Web site, and is in the process of changing nutrition computation programs.
The new Web site, which is very close to being released, will be an “incredible” tool for students wishing to track daily consumption of calories, said Newton.
OSU plans to begin renovating Kennedy Commons inspring of 2011 and finish by that summer. The changes will make room for some of the “coolest stations, menus and grill stations,” Newton said.
Kennedy dining services will be moved temporarily to Baker Hall during the Kennedy Commons renovation process.
