New research suggests that saying how much consumers need to exercise to burn off calories could change eating habits.
A new study by researchers at Loughborough University supports an approach to food product labelling that would display small symbols showing how much physical activity is needed to compensate for consuming the item.
For example, a fizzy drink containing 138 calories could have a small symbol of a person showing it would take 26 minutes of walking or 13 minutes of running to burn off these calories.
The researchers say the approach puts calories in context and may help people to avoid overeating, or spur them to move about more in a bid to burn off the energy they have consumed. They also suggest it might encourage food producers to make products with less calories.
Published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the study found that participants selected on average about 65 fewer calories per meal when exercise-based labels were present on food or menus.
While this might not seem a lot, researchers say with each meal this mounts up.
“People think that obesity is caused by gluttony. It isn’t. Obesity is caused by all of us eating just a little bit too much,” one of the researchers, Prof Amanda Daley, told The Guardian.