This time next year, menus around the country will look a bit different. The question is, how many people will notice?
On November 25, the Food and Drug Administration announced its final rules for nutritional labeling across the country, which includes required calorie labeling for any business that has more than 20 locations selling prepared foods. Establishments such as food trucks, movie theaters and vending machines will be included in this measure, as well as restaurants.
These establishments will have one year to comply with the rules and modify their food labels.
In a nation where nearly a third of the citizens are considered obese, and 50 cents of every dollar is spent on food eaten outside the home, the new regulation is meant to inform consumers of the calorie count, aiming to help them make healthier choices.
While this may sound good in theory, in practice it seems it does not always work. A study conducted by Brian Elbel, an associate professor of population health at New York University’s School of Medicine, spent weeks outside fast food eateries talking to customers and collecting their receipts. He found that only a little more than half of consumers even took notice of the posted calories. Of those, around 15 percent of the total said that the information actually caused them to order something different.
Those who did change their orders were generally not the targeted population, but tended to be more educated consumers. In general, these types of statistics indicate that Americans with more education are less likely to be obese than those with less, although of course there are exceptions.
George Loewenstein, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University who has researched how behaviors affect obesity, told the New York Times that he’s skeptical menu labeling will make much of a difference. He said, “there are very few cases where social scientists have documented that giving people information has changed their behavior very much. Changing prices and changing convenience have big impact. Providing information doesn’t.”
A 2013 study published in the American Journal of Public Health also echoed these findings. Researchers at two New York City McDonald’s locations handed out pieces of paper with recommendations for how many calories they should eat per meal or per day, but customers who received the information didn’t eat fewer calories compared to those given nothing.
Although some think the strategy is unlikely to do much to curb obesity, providing customers with more information certainly doesn’t hurt. Some believe it may change the behavior of the companies that are selling the food, and that restaurants may possibly reduce the calories in the foods they offer.
Of course, calorie content is far from the only issue when it comes to obesity. However, every step, no matter how small, may be important for tackling this growing epidemic.
-The Alternative Daily
Sources:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131115154458.htm
http://www.today.com/health/who-cares-about-calories-restaurant-menu-labels-dont-work-study-6C10677922
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/27/upshot/calories-on-menus-a-nationwide-experiment-into-human-behavior.html?ref=health&_r=1&abt=0002&abg=1
