Calorie labelling and fast food choices

More than 90% of fast-food consumers will not change their menu choices even if the foods are all labelled with their energy content.

Only around 8% of consumers are likely to make healthier choices as a result of ‘calorie labelling’ according to a recent study published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.

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

Next year calorie labelling will be mandated in the US, with the Food and Drug Administration requiring all chain restaurants with at least 20 locations to post calorie information. The drive behind this is honourable — with the aim to encourage healthier meal choices. But being honourable does not ensure success.

Most studies of calorie labels in fast-food restaurants have found little evidence that fast-food consumers are changing their behaviour in response to the labels.

For people to be swayed by calorie labelling the following five conditions need to be met (according to Scot Burton of the University of Arkansas and Jeremy Kees of Villanova University):

1. Consumers must be aware of the labelling.
2. Consumers must be motivated to eat healthfully.
3. They must know the number of calories one should eat daily to maintain a healthy weight.
4. Labelling must provide information that differs from consumers’ expectations of how many calories foods contain.
5. Labelling must reach regular fast-food consumers.

In the NYU study, the researchers used Burton and Kees’ framework to better understand why menu calorie labelling policies have had a limited impact. They found that only a small minority of fast-food consumers met all five conditions, and therefore could be expected to change their eating behavior as a result of menu calorie labelling.

In addition, the researchers cited past experiments showing that people responded to calorie labelling on menus that included the average recommended daily calorie intake or explained how much exercise would be needed to burn off different foods. While these experiments have not been used in the real world, these potential labelling improvements may hold value based on the lack of nutritional knowledge in the current study.

The researchers also note that the visibility of calorie labelling may encourage change through a different pathway: it may spur restaurants to reduce the calorie content of existing menu items and provide additional lower calorie options.

“We know that few regular fast-food eaters choose fast food because it is nutritious; they instead are motivated by cost and convenience,” said study author Beth Weitzman, professor of public health and policy at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. “However, requiring restaurants to make the calorie content of their menu items highly visible could cause restaurants to add new, healthy options to their menus.”