Consumers' Use of Nutrition Information When Eating Out

One strategy for helping Americans improve their diets is to make nutrition information more widely available. A practical problem for this strategy has been the recent increase in household reliance on food away from home (FAFH); this food has not, on the whole, been subject to the same nutrition-labeling requirements as food items sold to be prepared and eaten at home (FAH). In response to this problem, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires all restaurants with 20 or more locations to provide nutrition information on menus. Given these upcoming changes, it would be helpful to know who already uses nutrition information that eating establishments provide voluntarily and who might use such information when it becomes widely available because of the new regulations. What are the demographic and diet-related characteristics of those who already use nutrition information when eating out and those who say they would use such information if it were available? Would more nutrition information in FAFH settings prompt the average consumer to make better choices?