Compulsory Nutritional Information In Menus Makes No Difference To Calorie Intake

Who could have seen this coming? Fitness Watch readers, of course.

You would have thought that forcing restaurants to list nutritional information in their menus would make people more careful about what they ate - apparently it makes no difference at all. In January 2009, King County, Washington, USA, made it compulsory for fast food outlets with 15 or more locations to disclose nutritional data on their menus, including calorie information.

Authorities at King County, which includes the city of Seattle, said their intention was to try to address the rise in obesity rates in the area.

Scientists from the health department of Seattle and King County, as well as some from Duke-National University of Singapore gathered information on purchasing behavior of Taco Time customers in the area. They found that after 13 months of mandatory menu labeling, people's purchasing habits had not changed at all.

Sales value and average calories for each transaction were not affected by the measure, the authors wrote.

Lead author Eric Finkelstein, Ph.D., said:

"Given the results of prior studies, we had expected the results to be small, but we were surprised that we could not detect even the slightest hint of changes in purchasing behavior as a result of the legislation. The results suggest that mandatory menu labeling, unless combined with other interventions, may be unlikely to significantly influence the obesity epidemic."


Federal authorities are planning to make all fast-food chains with at least 20 outlets include nutritional data on all their menus. The researchers wonder whether this may be a mistake.

Coauthor Kiersten Strombotne of Duke-NUS, said:

"However, it may be that detailed nutritional information is not the best way to convey the health content of fast foods. For example, if you know a store offers diet and regular soda, does showing how many calories are in regular soda really offer any relevant information? Those who want a lower calorie drink already know to drink the diet soda."


Before mandatory labeling was introduced, Taco Time already had a "Healthy Highlights" logo option on its menu, something which may have undermined the impact of the county's health drive, Finkelstein suggested.

Finkelstein said, said:

"A simple logo identifying which foods are healthiest may be all it takes to convey that information to those consumers who wish to choose a healthier alternative. The additional information appears not to have made a difference."


After the Nutrition Facts Panel was required nationally for pre-packaged foods, obesity continued growing in the USA regardless, Finkelstein pointed out.

Surprise!

Duh.