Abstract
Objective: Behavioral economics has a great potential to apply for health promotion and disease prevention. Based on the nudge theory, one of the concepts of behavioral economics, this study evaluated the influence of the dish order in a buffet on food selection and food intake among the Japanese population.
Methods: Students (N=61) of Yamaguchi University were randomly divided into two groups for a buffet lunch in two separate rooms. In one room, 16 kinds of foods were ordered from vegetable foods to protein foods (vegetable-first group), while the dishes were in reverse order in the other room (protein-first group). The number of consumed foods was compared between the two groups.
Results: The students of the vegetable-first group ate significantly more kinds of vegetable foods than those of the protein-first group (average was 3.5 and 3.0, respectively). Conversely, the proportion of kinds of protein foods was significantly higher in the protein-first group than in vegetable-first group (34.8% and 30.4%, respectively). Compared to the vegetable-first group, the protein-first group consumed more protein food (3.8 and 5.4, respectively). There were no foods consumed significantly more by the vegetable-first group than the protein-first group.
Conclusion: The vegetable-first line increased the consumption of the vegetable foods, while the protein-first line increased the protein foods. The order of foods might influence food selection and intake of the Japanese university students.
