What Would It Take for People to Eat Fewer Calories?
Jul 27th, 2011 by BK
Like many things in life, there is probably no one, simple answer to this question. But at least people are trying to answer it.
One way is to use regulation to get major chain restaurants to provide calorie information on their menus. New York City did this in 2008. A study on the outcome of the New York regulation showed that 15% of customers in 2009 reported using the calorie information and purchased 106 fewer kilocalories than customers who did not see or use the calorie information (Dumanovsky et al., 2011). Fifteen per cent of customers might seem like a small proportion but it is still sizeable, especially if some of these are repeat customers. For example, three meals a week at the same restaurant could net a 300-calorie reduction. That’s about half an hour of running to burn those calories! The question is how to get as many of the remaining 85% of customers as possible to see or use the calorie information to reduce their calorie intake.
While providing calorie information to customers helps them make personal decisions, another strategy is to actually improve the nutritional content of the food itself. McDonald’s just announced their “Commitments to Offer Improved Nutrition Choices” plan. One of the three goals is to expand and improve nutritionally-balanced menu choices. By 2015, McDonald’s will reduce sodium an average of 15% overall and by 2020 it will “reduce added sugars, saturated fat and calories through varied portion sizes, reformulations and innovations.” Improving the nutritional content of food items puts less onus on the consumer to make a conscious decision. Sometimes, you just want those fries! But at least the fries will soon have less salt. “Soon” is relative though. McDonald’s self-set deadlines are still 4 years and 9 years away. Hopefully, McDonald’s actions will inspire other restaurant chains and even independent restaurants to do the same and in a shorter time frame.
The above two examples are from the U.S. What’s happening in Canada? Here in Vancouver city, there are no regulations. Any calorie information would be provided by restaurants on a voluntary basis (from a business perspective, this could give these restaurants a competitive advantage). The BC provincial government is exploring the idea of menu nutrition labelling for foods served in restaurants and food service establishments. In Ontario, Bill 90 (a private member’s bill to get food establishments to provide calorie information) had its first and, so far, only reading in the Legislative Assembly in June 2010. There is some obvious interest in Canada to follow in the footsteps of New York City. I’m sure there are other examples in Canada that I haven’t heard about.
Restaurants comprise only part of the food industry. There are a lot of processed foods sold in stores. Food manufacturers could also improve the nutritional content of their manufactured food. In the absence of regulation, this would most likely be driven by consumer demand.
What works well to reduce people’s calorie intake remains to be seen. It will most likely be a combination of strategies that aim to change individual behaviour and to change the surrounding environment so that healthier choices don’t necessarily have to be conscious choices.
Reference:
Addendum (August 10, 2011)
Update: The BC provincial government is partnering with the BC restaurant industry to introduce the Informed Dining program to provide restaurant customers with the nutrition information they need to make healthier choices.
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