Research based on 1,400 interviews in Philadelphia, PA shows as few as 8 percent of consumers make healthier eating choices based on present calorie counts, reports Health Day News. The research team therefore concluded that significant labeling improvements such as larger size and clearer font would need to be made. Most importantly, to have any effect, it must reach people who are more concerned about cost and convenience rather than nutrition.
Calorie labeling rules already exist in Philadelphia. Elsewhere in the country, restaurants will be required to add calorie disclosure to menus in May of 2017.
Editor's note: By the time restaurants are required to have calorie disclosure, vending machine operators will have plenty of experience with what works and what doesn't. One worry about studies such as this however, is that it will elicit more stringent rules on calorie disclosure and another round of compliance intiatives needed by vendors.
