A recent study confirms that calorie labelling can help reduce calorie intake, leading to long-term health benefits.
Calorie labelling on menus and food products has been shown to help people make healthier choices, leading to a modest reduction in calorie intake. A recent Cochrane review has shown that displaying calorie information on menus and food products encourages people to choose slightly fewer calories. Researchers from UCL, Bath Spa University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford analyzed data from 25 studies investigating the effects of calorie labelling on food selection and consumption (1✔ ✔Trusted Source
Calorie (energy) labelling for changing selection and consumption of food or alcohol
).
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Calorie Labelling and Healthier Food Choices
Calorie labels in settings such as supermarkets, restaurants, and other food venues led to a modest reduction in the number of calories people selected and purchased. On average, this reduction amounted to 1.8%, or roughly 11 fewer calories in a 600-calorie meal—equivalent to about two almonds.
Although the impact of these reductions may seem small, sustained changes in daily energy intake can lead to significant long-term benefits. Weight gain is common as people age, and a UK government report estimates that 90% of individuals aged 20-40 in England could gain up to 9kg over a decade. Cutting daily energy intake by just 24 calories—approximately 1% of the recommended daily intake for adults—could counteract this trend entirely.
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Expert Opinions on Calorie Labelling
“Our review suggests that calorie labelling leads to a modest reduction in the calories people purchase and consume,” says senior author Dr Gareth Hollands from the UCL Social Research Institute, also Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. “This may have some impact on health at the population level, but calorie labelling is certainly no silver bullet. Our previous version of this review from 2018 reported a potentially larger effect, but was inconclusive because there was significant uncertainty over the results. This update has reduced that uncertainty, and we can now say with confidence that there is very likely a real, albeit modest, effect.”
The new update compiles evidence from 25 studies with a strong emphasis on real-world field settings, with 16 of the studies being conducted in restaurants, cafeterias, and supermarkets. The studies that were analysed encompassed over 10,000 participants from high-income countries including Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the USA. Only two of the studies included alcoholic drinks, and their results were too uncertain to draw any meaningful conclusions.
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Calorie Labelling in Public Health Strategies
“This review strengthens the evidence that calorie labelling can lead to small but consistent reductions in calorie selection,” says lead author Dr Natasha Clarke of Bath Spa University, who began the project at the University of Cambridge. “While the overall impact on individual meals or food purchases may be modest, the evidence is robust. The cumulative effect at a population level could make a meaningful contribution to public health, especially as calorie labelling becomes more widespread.”
While calorie labelling shows promise, concerns remain about its possible impact on people at risk of disordered eating. The review noted a lack of data in the included studies on possible harms, including mental health impacts, and the authors recommend future research to assess this.
“Calorie labelling to reduce the calories that people consume remains somewhat contentious, both in terms of whether it has any effect, and whether potential benefits outweigh potential risks or harms,” says Gareth. “We can now say with considerable confidence that it does have a small but potentially meaningful effect on people’s food choices. Labelling may therefore have a useful role, ideally alongside a broader set of approaches that place more onus on industry rather than individuals, such as taxes, marketing restrictions and reformulation. However, we should not expect miracles, and any implementation of calorie labelling must balance the many potential positive and negative impacts of such policies.”
Reference:
- Calorie (energy) labelling for changing selection and consumption of food or alcohol – (https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD014845.pub2/full)
Source-Eurekalert