Impact of menu calorie labeling on hypothetical meal choices in the united kingdom: an exploration of potential public health benefit versus risk for disordered eating harm

This study investigates the impact of calorie-labeled menus on hypothetical consumer behavior in the United Kingdom (UK), whilst exploring risk for disordered eating. A general population sample of 415 participants, diverse in age and gender, selected hypothetical meals from menus either with or without calorie information, having completed the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) immediately before or after menu presentation. Regression analyses showed that menu type significantly predicted calorie selection, with participants in the calorie-labeled condition choosing meals with fewer total calories compared to those in the non-labeled condition. Global disordered eating scores did not predict total calories, nor did they interact with menu type. Only the restraint (R) subscale of the EDE-Q was a significant independent predictor of total calories, indicating that higher R was associated with choosing meals with fewer calories, though this did not interact with menu type. These findings indicate that, in a hypothetical choice context, calorie information was associated with lower-calorie selections without evidence of immediate disordered eating risk. However, given the cross-sectional and correlational design, no causal conclusions can be drawn, and potential longer-term or compensatory effects (e.g., restrictive eating, purging, or exercise behaviors) were not assessed. Further longitudinal and real-world research is required to validate and expand these findings within the UK context.