Health Halos That Make Us Fat

Why menu labeling will not work.

If you think you eat healthier at the Sunburst Fresh Café than at Big Jims Beefy BBQ, you might be wrong. You could be a victim of the "Health Halo."

This study, presented at the Association for Consumer Research conference in Jacksonville, FL, showed that people eating at restaurants claiming to be "healthy" estimated they ate only 56% as many calories as they actually did. The problem was these people tended to reward themselves by eating more chips, fries, and cookies, according to authors Pierre Chandon of INSEAD and Brian Wansink of Cornell University.

In one experiment, people were given the same food but told it was from McDonalds or they were told it was from Subway. Even when eating the exact same food, people estimated the sandwich in the Subway wrapper contained 21% fewer calories than the one in the McDonald's wrapper. The problem, said Chandon, was "People can eat more at these "healthy" restaurants, but they think they ate less, so they then opt for a dessert."

People are innumerate.

The only hope is to make them pay for the consequences of their overeating Calories.