Många människor ignorera, Miss kalori räknas på snabbmat menyer: undersökning

Of 2,000 customers noticed 40% the information and 10% used it

By Kathleen Doheny

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, november 15, 2013 HealthDay News)-posting calorie content of menu items at restaurants is designed to make dinner guests stop and think, match up the total and make wiser choices.

In real life, which seems not to be the case, according to new research.

In a survey of 2000 Philadelphia fast food customers, said aged 18-64, get the information that is used, even if they noticed it, study author Brian Elbel, an assistant professor of public health and health policy at NYU School of Medicine.

Forty percent of the sample, saw it and about 10 percent [total] said they used it and reported to us that they bought fewer calories, "he said.

The study is published in the November issue of the journal obesity. Elbel is scheduled to present the findings Friday at the Obesity Society's annual meeting in Atlanta.

Elbel's team collected receipts from customers at McDonald's and Burger King restaurants and asked them a series of questions. These included how often they visited fast-food restaurants, if they noticed the calorie information, and if they used it. They did it before and after February 2010, when Philadelphia calorie-count label law took effect.

At the same time was a telephone survey of other Philadelphia residents asking them if they ate at fast-food restaurants and if they noticed the calorie labels.

The researchers also examined customers of both chains in Baltimore, a city that has not forced the calorie labels.

Elbel found no differences in the number of visits or calories purchased after the policy went into effect in Philadelphia. The amount of calories in the food purchased and the number of fast food restaurant visits did not change much at all in either the city over time.

Philadelphia residents reported eating almost six times a week at a fast-food chain before the law, and about seven times after. Baltimore Residents ate at a fast-food chain about seven times a week both before and after.

According to the American health law known as the affordable care Act, restaurant chains with 20 or more locations nationally to post calorie content in all the usual drinks and food their menu Board or on printed menus. Final regulations on the provision runs from the u.s. Food and Drug Administration, said Elbel.

This provision is intended to help stem the obesity epidemic. Currently, one-third of Americans are obese, increasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other health problems.

Obesity is generally higher among minorities. In the survey, 70 percent of those interviewed black.

Elbel cannot completely explain the results. However, he said, "it's hard to counter that fast food is cheap and tastes pretty good."

He does not think it is time to abandon the idea calorie label. Rather, he sees it as a way to help people make wiser choices, like many other strategies.

An expert not involved in the study said the calorie-label program may need to go further.

"Providing calorie information is not enough," said Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University. "If we want people to use the information, we need to raise awareness of its availability, and most importantly, educate about its use."

This is especially important, she said, for those who do not have a high priority on good nutrition.

Lichtenstein proposed a study that examines the impact of an informative campaign on the use of calorie labels. Other research, she said, States that '' the people who are reporting with calorie labelling order fewer calories. "