Does posting calories on menus make a difference?
When I recently went to Taco Bell with my son for our favorite meal — “Mexican pizza” (substitute beans for beef) — I noticed something different on the menu display panels. Calorie counts of 540 for the pizza and 380 for a vegetarian bean burrito were posted along with the price.
A government regulation, passed 10 years ago, went into effect May 7 requiring all restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets to post calories on their menus.
So I wondered: Does posting calories really make a difference?
One 2017 analysis found menu labeling did not change the calorie consumption of Americans, while another study found it reduced our calorie intake by 8 percent, or 50 calories in a 600-calorie meal.
As for me, it made me think twice about the pizza. I opted for the burrito instead. Not so for my son, who, undeterred, ordered both. I wondered if people even look at the calorie labeling.
One study done outside a McDonald’s restaurant found only 60 percent of the fast-food patrons noticed the calorie labeling and just 16 percent of that group took the newly displayed information into account to make their decision.
An average person needs 2,000 calories a day, but an average American eats about 300 calories more than that. We spend half our food budget and onethird our calorie consumption on meals outside the home, and most of us are clueless or underestimate the calorie count in our foods.
So why do we need calorie labeling if there’s little evidence that it makes a significant difference?
Well, imagine this: What if you went to a retail store and the displayed item did not have a price tag? That would be unacceptable. How can we not know how much an item costs before we purchase it? We need to shift our thinking and consider that the calorie count of each meal is even more important than the dollar amount. If we consume too many calories then the pounds add up, affecting our health and well-being and eventually our medical costs.
More so, even if the calorie labeling does not impact the choices of much of the population (mostly non-health conscious Americans), it does shame the fast-food restaurants to remove less healthy items.
A recent study showed newer menu items had 71 fewer calories on average per item compared with those removed from the menu at chain restaurants. Yet, there are still many high-calorie items on the menu, like the McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with cheese at 730 calories. Add an order of fries and a soft drink, and you’ve consumed well more than half the 2,000 daily calories just for one meal.
My son and I enjoyed our burritos and Mexican pizza, even though it was not the healthiest meal of the day. At least with the food labeling, we knew what we were getting. Getting nudged by calorie counts on menu offerings is one thing that fast-food restaurants can do to help us make better choices.