Save
Email
Print
ShareJune 4, 2010 — How many more apples can a school cafeteria sell if the fruit is displayed in an attractive basket and placed in a well-lit area?
That's the sort of question researchers from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab are exploring as part of their Smarter Lunchrooms Initiative -- an effort to discover and share low-cost changes that can be made in lunchrooms to subtly guide smarter food choices.
Led by Professor Brian Wansink, the researchers observed a 58 percent increase in fresh fruit sales at one Upstate New York school simply by moving the fruit from a stainless steel tray and into a basket lit by an ordinary desk lamp.
Wansink will present these findings and others at the Food for Your Whole Life Health Symposium on June 6-7 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City.
"The best solution is often the simplest one," Wansink explained. "Rather than penalizing a less healthy food choice, we just made the healthier item much more likely to be noticed and chosen."
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cornell Food & Brand Lab, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
more 