A recent study published in the journal Appetite reported that 30 to 40% of women order healthy food at the beginning of the online menu. The study authors from Flinders University discovered that the menu arrangement plays a crucial role in encouraging people to eat healthily. 

The study authors investigated where healthy foodstuffs should be placed on the menu to get consumers to buy them. One of the leading authors, Indah Gynell stated that previous studies had investigated the notion of food placement in menus; however, the study highlighted inconsistent results.

Gynell further noted that the foodstuffs at the beginning of the menu became more famous. However, a few Respondents reported that the foods found in the middle of the menu were the best. 

How researchers conducted the study

The study authors compared the menus of restaurants in three different areas. The study focused on online and physical menus; however, most restaurants changed their options to online menus during the pandemic.  

The authors then developed menus containing eight unhealthy foodstuffs and four healthy ones. The foodstuffs were then positioned in three rows on the printed menu and a column of twelve options on the online menu. 

In the first area, the study authors had 172 women choose from the menu but increased by ten women respondents in a different place. 

Participants who looked at the bottom of the menu were less likely to choose healthy meals

The study revealed that dieting patterns in female respondents were likely to affect the options they made when it came to the menus. Some of the Respondents opted for foodstuffs from one of the study’s menus before conducting a psychological test. 

The test revealed the respondent’s restraints in diet choices and whether the options made were to lose weight or health issues. Moreover, the study authors discovered that 30 to 40% of the respondents who observed the healthy foodstuffs on the menu were likely to choose healthy foodstuff than the respondents who saw the bottom of the menu. 

 The study authors reported that the crucial purpose of the study was to create consistent dietary habits that resulted in the development of health gains.