Vegetarian products are perceived as being less caloric than their non-vegetarian equivalents, but participants in the study do not report more intention to eat more vegetarian products

Halo It’s Meat! the Effect of the Vegetarian Label on Calorie Perception and Food Choices. Théo Besson, Hugo Bouxom & Thibault Jaubert. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, Aug 26 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2019.1652820

ABSTRACT: In the last few years, vegetarian products have become a widespread dietary option in food industry to the point that large retail chains such as McDonald’s has offered a vegetarian burger to their customers (e.g., the Grand Veggie). In the present research, two studies investigated the influence of a vegetarian label on calorie perception, frequency consumption and food choices. In the first study (N = 211) participants were randomly assigned to an experimental design 2 (burger type: Grand Veggie vs Big Mac). In the second study (N = 915), participants were either exposed to a similar burger labeled vegetarian or a meat-based. Both studies show that vegetarian products are perceived as being less caloric than their non-vegetarian equivalents. However, participants do not report more intention to eat more vegetarian products and do not lead to differences in menu composition.

KEYWORDS: Health halo effect, calorie perception, food choices, vegetarian food