Are calorie counts posted at your favorite eatery making you think twice about ordering an especially high-calorie dish?
If not, you apparently are not alone. Research conducted in areas of the United States where menu labeling has become law is showing that the calorie postings are not influencing healthier dining-out decisions by consumers, according to the Washington Post.
“Have we seen a big (drop) in sales? No, not at all,” Todd Stallings, owner of several Five Guys restaurants in Montgomery, Md., tells the newspaper. “When people come to Five Guys, they know we are not cooking their french fries in water.”
The effectiveness of calorie labeling is being questioned as the federal government finalizes national rules regarding such disclosures. The effort is part of President Obama’s healthcare law approved last year.
“There is a great concern among many of the people who study calorie labeling that the policy has moved way beyond the science and that it would be beneficial to slow down,” says George Loewenstein, a behavioral economist at Carnegie Mellon University who studies calorie labeling. In a recent editorial in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, he asked: “Given the lack of evidence that calorie posting reduces calorie intake, why is the enthusiasm for the policy so pervasive?”
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