Background: Recent attempts to improve the healthfulness of away-from-home eating include regulations requiring restaurants to post nutrition information. The impact of such regulations on restaurant environments is unknown.

Purpose: To examine changes in restaurant environments from before to after nutrition-labeling regulation in a newly regulated county versus a nonregulated county.

Methods: Using the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey-Restaurant version audit, environments within the same quick-service chain restaurants were evaluated in King County (regulated) before and 6 and 18 months after regulation enforcement and in Multnomah County (nonregulated) restaurants over a 6-month period. Data were collected in 2008-2010 and analyses conducted in 2011.

Results: Overall availability of healthy options and facilitation of healthy eating did not increase differentially in King County versus Multnomah County restaurants aside from the substantial increase in onsite nutrition information posting in King County restaurants required by the new regulation. Barriers to healthful eating decreased in King County relative to Multnomah County restaurants, particularly in food-oriented establishments. King County restaurants demonstrated modest increases in signage that promotes healthy eating, although the frequency of such promotion remained low, and the availability of reduced portions decreased in these restaurants. The healthfulness of children's menus improved modestly over time, but not differentially by county.

Conclusions: A restaurant nutrition-labeling regulation was accompanied by some, but not uniform, improvements in other aspects of restaurant environments in the regulated compared to the nonregulated county. Additional opportunities exist for improving the healthfulness of away-from-home eating beyond menu labeling.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3479434PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2012.07.025DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

king county
20
restaurant environments
16
county restaurants
16
nutrition-labeling regulation
12
multnomah county
12
county
10
healthfulness away-from-home
8
away-from-home eating
8
restaurants
8
county versus
8

Similar Publications

Certain transgender women who seek gender-affirming hormone treatment (GAHT) face economic and social barriers that limit or prevent access to medically supervised GAHT. Transgender women facing such barriers might acquire GAHT without prescription, potentially without proper dosage, administration, and health monitoring in the absence of medical supervision. For this report, survey data were analyzed from 1,165 transgender women in seven urban areas in the United States to examine associations between self-reported use of nonprescription GAHT and known correlates of nonprescription GAHT, including cost, insurance coverage for GAHT, homelessness, receiving money or drugs in exchange for sex during the past 12 months (exchange sex), lack of comfort discussing gender with provider, and lack of health care use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!