Restaurants Encouraged To Add Calorie Info To Menus
A new study suggests restaurants that put calorie information on their menus could help with obesity issues.
The study also adds that information, like the number of calories the average adult should get in a day, could also be effective in curbing appetites.
The findings are reported in the American Journal of Public Health.
A law developed in New York City in 2008 made it the first city in the U.S. to label menus in fast food restaurants and coffee chains. California and other U.S. states are considering similar measures.
The plan is to help battle America’s obesity problem by raising awareness of just how many calories are in fast food such as hamburgers, fries and desserts. The federal government has yet to step in but provisions for menu labeling are part of the healthcare reform legislation currently before Congress.
However, since studies show menu labeling had no positive effect in the low-income neighborhoods of New York, questions have been asked about its true effectiveness.
Yale University researchers assigned 303 adults to order from three different menus: one with no calorie labeling; one with calorie information; and one with calorie content, plus a label saying the average adult should get about 2,000 calories a day.
The study showed people who chose from the label-free menu ate 14 percent more calories than people who chose from the two calorie-label menu.
Christina Roberto, a doctoral candidate at Yale, said, "We can say that is the menu labeling having the effects on calorie intake."
Roberto, who led the study, noted the setting of the study was experimental and not real world, but that allowed the researchers to show cause-and-effect.
Moreover, Roberto said, the findings highlight the potential impact of a simple line stating the number of calories a person should get each day.
She says, "By putting that ‘anchor’ in, you can maximize the effectiveness of menu labeling. That turned out to be really important."
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