I feel that the menu labeling law that is mandatory for organizations with 20 locations is a positive step in the right direction. Laws like this are helping force conversations as restaurant professionals are address issues surrounding calorie labeling and other labeling difficulties. However, new research has shown that it might not impact people as much as was previously thought.
Some preliminary studies found menu labeling to lead to slight reductions in the number of calories people purchase, particularly when such labeling is accompanied by a statement referring to a recommended intake of 2000 kcal per day. Other studies, however, found no effect or indicated that such posting might actually encourage young men, in particular, to eat more. Because these studies were largely conducted in classrooms or school cafeterias and used self-reports, cash-register receipts, or other such indirect measures of food consumption, their overall significance is not easily interpreted.
Despite such logistic problems and modest benefits, calorie labeling is well worth the trouble. Here, at last, is help for explaining the relationship of food energy to body weight. […] Calorie labeling demonstrates that larger portions have more calories.
What do you think???
