Die Studie analysierte Daten von britischen Kunden nach Inkrafttreten des Gesetzes zur obligatorischen Kalorienkennzeichnung im April 2022 und stellte keinen signifikanten Rückgang der gekauften oder konsumierten Kalorien fest. Trotz eines höheren Bewusstseins gaben nur 22 % der Kunden an, bei der Auswahl ihrer Lebensmittel Kalorieninformationen zu verwenden
https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2024/11/25/study-evaluates-impact-of-mandatory-calorie-labelling-in-englands-out-of-home-food-sector/
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>The study analysed data from customer surveys conducted in 330 food outlets across England, covering cafes, fast-food restaurants, pubs, and sit-down restaurants, both before and after the introduction of mandatory calorie labelling. Over 6,500 customers participated, providing insights into their calorie consumption, their awareness and use of calorie information, and their understanding of the amount of calories in their meals.
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>The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, found that:
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>- There was no meaningful decrease in the number of calories purchased or consumed following the policy implementation.
>- Noticing of calorie information rose, with 31.8% of participants reporting awareness of calorie labels post-implementation, compared to 16.5% before.
>- Despite higher awareness, only a small percentage of customers (22%) reported using calorie information when making their food choices following the policy implementation.
>- Awareness and use of calorie labelling were higher among women, older adults, and people in higher socioeconomic groups
Paper: [Evaluating the association between the introduction of mandatory calorie labelling and energy consumed using observational data from the out-of-home food sector in England | Nature Human Behaviour](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02032-1)
If you’re counting calories it makes it so much easier than having to make an educated guess on the calories based on the ingredients of the meal.
22% is hardly “nothing”.
– though this doesn’t seem to say whether this percentage was affected by the new labelling.
The issue is that most people don’t understand what a calorie is. Most people’s eating habits are based on what they like and are available within their budget.
This stuff takes time, it’s not just “we label kcals and now everyone understands and instantly makes smarter choices”. It is a first step and will surely be welcomed and even overlooked as “the obvious thing to have” over time.
That’s because calories are an almost-useless concept from a metabolic perspective.
Human bodies are not calorimeters. They don’t just blindly and dumbly extract a precise quantity of “calories” from any given food as a product of its macronutrient composition. There are literally dozens of potential metabolic fates for any given macronutrient, many of which have absolutely nothing to do with burning a calorie of energy. E.g.: if you eat some protein and that protein is used to build or repair body tissue, is that a “calorie” consumed? Obviously not. If anything, it actually costs calories to process the protein into the tissue.
Not only are calorie labels entirely inaccurate in the context of actual metabolism, overeating is never *about* a person’s ignorance of the caloric density of the food they’re eating. People eat *because they’re hungry,* period. When people hunger for more than is necessary for maintenance, something is wrong, and it has nothing to do with ignorance–it’s endocrinal at that point. “Calories in, calories out” is a fantasy invented by dieters to create an illusion of control.
A quarter of people using it seems high to me. It would have to be activated in people to use it throgih other means than just it’s availability. I imagine a chart how much you should consume to be what weight would help next to it.
That’s partly why 78% of Americans are obese.