Does knowing that a hamburger is 240 calories and a cheeseburger is 330 convince you to hold the cheddar? According to a recent NYT article, it doesn’t for most people:
In New York City, menu label mandates began in 2008. Back then, people reported that they saw and used calorie counts more often than people did in restaurants without labels. However, every year after that, fewer and fewer people reported noticing them or considering them. Over time, customers started to ignore the labels. More significantly, at no time did the labels lead to a reduction in the calories of what diners ordered. Even if people noticed the calorie counts, they did not change their behavior.
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In addition to people just seemingly not caring about calorie counts anymore, the counts aren’t always accurate. A 2011 study found that about 20% of restaurant food had at least 100 more calories than what was reported on the menu. Worse, the food items with the lowest reported calories — the so-called healthiest — were the most likely to be incorrect.
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While it’s a good idea to help people make healthier choices at restaurants, it seems that menu labeling is not the way to do it. We’ve always been fans of eating what we want in moderation, so maybe instead of focusing on calorie counts, we can just consider our portion sizes.
Curated article from:
NY Times
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