Arlington, TX -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/15/2007 -- Nearly half of Americans believe restaurants should be required to provide information on the nutritional value of their menu items, according to a nationwide study by Decision Analyst, a leading international marketing research company.

In September, California became the first state to require fast-food restaurants to post calorie information on their menus. At least 17 other local governments across the country have either passed or tried to pass legislation requiring restaurants to post the calorie contents of their dishes.

In its ongoing Health and Nutrition Strategist™ syndicated study, Decision Analyst recently asked 4,156 survey respondents if they agreed or disagreed with the statement: “Restaurants should be required to give nutritional facts on each menu item.’’ Of those surveyed, 47 percent agreed with the statement, while 20 percent disagreed. The remaining 33 percent had no opinion.

Women are somewhat more interested in nutritional information than men, according to the study. Fifty-two percent of women respondents agreed that restaurants should provide nutritional information and 43 percent of males agreed.

Surprisingly, younger consumers are more interested in nutritional information about restaurant food than those who are older, the study shows. By age, 53 percent of respondents 18 to 24 agreed that nutrition facts should be provided, while 42 percent of the 65 and older group wanted nutritional information.

Restaurants Should Give Nutritional Facts On Each Menu Item
(By Age)

Age Agrees
18 to 24 53%
25 to 34 52%
35 to 44 48%
45 to 54 45%
55 to 64 46%
65 or older 42%

Methodology

Decision Analyst’s Health and Nutrition Strategist™ study is conducted online using the company’s American Consumer Opinion® panel. The survey relies on a nationally representative, statistically balanced sample of 4,156 American adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 2%. The Health and Nutrition Strategist™ study is a broad, integrated knowledge base of food, beverage consumption, restaurant usage, health habits, and nutritional attitudes.

About Decision Analyst
Decision Analyst (http://www.decisionanalyst.com), based in Dallas-Fort Worth, is a leading international marketing research and marketing consulting firm specializing in advertising testing, strategy research, new product development, and advanced modeling for marketing decision optimization. The 28-year-old firm delivers competitive advantage to clients throughout the world in the consumer packaged goods, telecommunications, retail, high technology, medical and pharmaceutical, utilities, and e-commerce industries. In addition, Decision Analyst operates the American Consumer Opinion® online panel, which has more than seven million participants and is one of the largest such panels in the world.