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Food

Study: Calorie Counts Don't Matter To Teenagers

By

Jaya Saxena

Published Feb 15, 2011

Modified Feb 15, 2011

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Don't eat the chili cheese fries

 

By

Jaya Saxena

Published Feb 15, 2011

Modified Feb 15, 2011

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In 2009, researchers released a study showing that displays of calorie counts in the city's chain restaurants had little impact on adults' ordering habits, with some even ordering more than before the counts were posted. Now, a new study from NYU shows that those habits start early. Only 9% of adolescents studied in New York City and Newark said they took calorie counts into consideration when ordering, and there were "no statistically significant differences in calories purchased before and after labeling." So labeling the calories does not change them?! Schrödinger's cat calorie paradox is solved!

Teens said taste was the most important factor in their fast food purchases, followed by price, and about a quarter of the group said they limited what they ate because of diet. Maybe because they still didn't know how much they were eating—though they purchased an average of 725 calories a meal, teenagers frequently underestimated the number of calories they were consuming by up to 466 calories. Parents usually bought their kids meals of around 600 calories, which did not change from before calorie posting.

Researcher Dr. Brian Ebel said, "It is important to further examine the influence of labeling, as it rolls out across the country as a result of the new federal law. At the same time, it is important to understand that labeling is not likely to be enough to influence obesity in a large scale way. Other public policy approaches, as well as the efforts of food companies as other actors, will be needed." America, this is why we can't have nice weddings.

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calorie count

calorie posting

fast food

study

teenagers

Jaya Saxena

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