Calorie Label In Fast-Food Restaurants Do Not Work, New Study Revealed

Experts are trying to beat obesity using strategies. One of those is telling the fast-food chains to post the calorie intake of each food. A new research found that the strategy did not work.

A team of experts from New York University conducted a research and concluded that the fast-food menu calorie count does not work with consumers in making a healthy choice when it comes to their diet. They found that only a few people that eat fast-food are influenced to make a healthier choice as they have seen the calorie label.

The purpose of this labeling of calorie is to encourage people that consume fast-food to choose healthier food. However,  despite the widespread adoption of the policy. There are still a less number of people that changes their behavior regarding the food choice.

The study author Andrew Breck, a doctoral candidate at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, said, "Health policies would benefit from greater attention to what is known about effective messaging and behavior change. The success of fast-food menu labeling depends on multiple conditions being met, not just the availability of calorie information."

 A framework and outline were created by Scot Burton from the University of Arkansas and Jeremy Kees of Villanova University to give emphasis for people to be motivated to eat healthier food

• Consumers must be aware of the labeling.
• Consumers must be motivated to eat healthily.
• They must know the number of calories that needs to be consumed on a daily basis to maintain a healthy weight.
• Labeling must provide information that differs from consumers' expectations of how many calories foods contain.
• Labeling must reach regular fast-food consumers.

In the study, the five frameworks were used by the experts. The researchers studied the data from Philadelphia shortly after the policy went to effect in the city in 2008. In Philadelphia alone, experts analyze the responses from 699 consumers at 15 different fast-food restaurants and 702 phone surveys from the residents of the city.

As a result of the two surveys, Medical Xpress reported that the researchers found that only a minority of fast-food consumers  met all the advice found in the framework. In the survey of the fast-food restaurant, only 8 percent followed, and only 16 percent of the phone survey met all the five conditions.

Study author Beth Weitzman,a  professor of public health and policy at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development shared that, "We know that few regular fast-food eaters chose fast food because it is nutritious; they instead are motivated by cost and convenience," according to Medical Daily.