Source record
Increasing vegetable intake by emphasizing tasty and enjoyable attributes
Bradley P. Turnwald, Alia J. Crum (2019). Psychological Science. Stanford University.
Key findings
- Identically prepared vegetables were chosen 41% more often under a flavour-focused label than under a health-restrictive one.
- Flavour-focused labels also beat basic labels by about 25%.
- People given the same mango lassi rated it markedly less enjoyable when it was labelled healthy.
Record
- Source type
- Peer Reviewed Study
- Study type
- Randomised Controlled Trial
- Topics
- Menus & catering
- Geography
- United States
- Population
- University dining hall diners
- Funding & conflicts
- Not recorded.
- Source quality
- Moderate evidenceReplicated across dining halls with a clear mechanism, but a narrow population.
Limitations
- University dining halls, repeated across sites but still one type of setting.
- Measures selection at the counter, not what was eaten or what happened afterwards.
Statistics we use from this source
- 41%More often chosen under a flavour label than a health-restrictive one
- 25%More often chosen under a flavour label than a basic one
Claims this source supports
EnvironmentModerate evidence
Naming a dish for its flavour rather than for what it lacks or for its health properties increases how often it is chosen, with the food unchanged.
Yes. Identically prepared vegetables were chosen 41% more often under a flavour label than a health-restrictive one, and 'meat-free' performed worse than almost every alternative tested.