People's health conscious lifestyle is the trend these days. With every food that they buy or eat they always consider how much calories it has and of course the nutritional value it has. An article in Health Day, a study showed that calorie labeling in their food menus had little to no effect for people in New York City.
In the study, the NYU Langone Medical Center researchers suggested that the calorie information on the food menu is not enough to lower the obesity rates. In 2008, some chain restaurants in New York City were asked to provide customers with the number of calories each food items in their menu.
The team of researchers investigated the items purchased by about 7,700 people who ate at fast food chains like McDonald's, KFC and Wendy's in New York City and New Jersey. These items were purchased from January 2013 to June 2014. They compared the results from surveying more than 1,000 fast-food restaurant customers after the new policy was introduced in New York.
The calorie they consumed averaged from 804 to 839 per meal at restaurants with the calorie counts in their menus and about 802 to 857 per meal in restaurants without calorie counts on their menus. In the survey, there was a recorded average of 783 calories per meal at restaurants with calorie count and 756 calories per meal in restaurants without it.
Brian Elbel, an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Medical Center said that their study suggests that menu labeling, in particular at fast-food restaurants, will not lead to longer calorie reduction consumption. The results could give an early sign of possible impact on the menu labeling in restaurants nationwide that can be introduced in December 2016 under the Affordable Care Act. He added that while calorie labeling has a small impact on the country's obesity rate, it may be effective if it's used with other process like marketing regulations and subsidies for healthy food.
