Health Halos: How Eating at Subway Can Make You Fatter than Eating at McDonald’s

Health Halos

Researchers Pierre Chandon and Brian Wansink investigated whether the perceived healthiness of particular fast food restaurants influenced consumer perception of the calories they consume there.  This umbrella effect caused by health branding is called a health halo. Over the course of several experiments, the researchers discovered that Subway’s branding as healthy fast-food leads consumers to consistently underestimate the number of calories they eat during a meal.  Consumers of McDonald’s, on the other hand, tend to more accurately estimate the number of calories they have eaten because the restaurant does not make health claims.

The studies by Chandon and Wansink showed that Subway’s health halo also led to an overall pattern of greater calorie consumption there than at McDonald’s.  This happened because Subway customers underestimated the caloric intake of their sandwiches, and then often chose more caloric laden drinks and dessert items (than their McDonald’s counterparts).  Demonstrably, Subway’s branding as a healthier fast food alternative creates a health halo under which the customer splurges on side items because they believe the main meal does not cause much caloric damage.  Thus, even a “healthy” restaurant like Subway can make us fat without us noticing.

The American Obesity Paradox

With these findings, the researchers believe they may have found why we are getting fatter as a nation despite our best intentions:

Between 1991 and 2001, the proportion of obese U.S. adults has grown from 23% to 31% of the population, a 3% annual compound rate (National Center for health Statistics 2002).  In the same period, the proportion of U.S. adults consuming low-calorie food and beverages grew from 48% to 60% of the population (a 2.3% annual compound rate), and the proportion of U.S. consumers trying to eat a healthy diet grew at 6% annual rate…

The Biasing Health Halos of Fast-Food Restaurant Health Claims

The obesity paradox may be in part explained by another finding by Wansink and Chandon; the studies show that the health halo appears to affect even those who believe themselves to be ‘nutritionally involved.’  Wansink and Chandon asked the participants to indicate their agreement with statements like “I pay close attention to nutrition information” and “I actively seek out nutrition information.”  There was no statistically significant difference in the estimated caloric content between those that rated themselves as nutritionally involved and the rest of the participants.  In other words, it is difficult for all of us to dissociate the restaurants health brand in order to objectively decipher the caloric content of our fast-food meals.

Hope

However, there are two reasons to still have hope and to still eat at Subway:

1) The fourth study by Chandon and Wansink showed they were able to dispel some of the effects of a health halo by asking participants to “consider the opposite”, meaning consumers should consider how the food they are about to eat is not a typical health item produced by the healthy fast-food chain.  Considering arguments that contradict a restaurant’s health claims, like guessing how much meat is actually in a sandwich, can actually help reverse a consumer’s tendency to underestimate caloric intake and attenuate consumption of excess calories from side items.

2) Eating at Subway is still healthier than McDonald’s and many other fast-food restaurants.  The first study by Chandon and Wansink measured actual meals ordered, finding that Subway meals contained, on average, fewer calories (average of 694) than meals ordered at McDonald’s (1,081 calories).  Also, eating at Subway, the calories can come from veggie toppings and good bread and less from the saturated fat of a beef patty.  Some people say that the sandwiches would be healthier, except for the fatty condiments, like mayonnaise, that many order on the sandwiches.  Here’s a trade “secret”: Subway switched to using all light mayo years ago and nobody noticed.  Not to mention that you can’t get Sun Chips at McDonald’s.  If you just had to have a side item with your sandwich, Sun Chips are by far the lesser evil.   So, eat at Subway, but be aware that not everything is healthier.

December 5, 2008  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Health, Science & Technology

One Response

  1. New Study Finds You May Eat More Just Because It’s Good For You | Food Bubbles - March 11, 2009

    [...] when guessing how much they’d eaten. Wansink and Chandon dubbed this phenomenon the “health halo” effect, for the sort of low-calorie, low-fat glow of goodness that surrounds foods that are [...]

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