Calorie Content Labeling Increases Awareness, But Doesn’t Change Food Choices - Study

U.S. researchers have found that calorie labeling on food packages – one of the major government policy initiatives in the war on obesity – does not influence the purchasing behavior of teenagers or of parents who shop for their children. Though teens seem to notice calorie data as often as adults, they are much less likely to respond to the information. Analyzing receipts and surveys from parents and teenagers at New York City fast-food restaurants before and after mandatory calorie labeling began, researchers found that before mandatory labeling, none of the teenagers noticed calorie content. After calorie labeling began, 57 percent noticed, but only nine percent said the data affected their purchases.