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 Pooled data from 14 randomized trials showed that labels with
activity times induced consumers to cut back nearly 65 calories per
meal more than labels that simply listed calories, researchers
reported in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
Labels with "physical activity calorie equivalent or expenditure,"
or PACE, were illustrated with drawings of a runner and a walker,
each accompanied by an estimate of how many minutes would be needed
in that activity to burn off the calories in the labeled food.
"The PACE food labeling, where you show how many minutes of physical
activity are required to expend the calories in a food may be a good
way of helping the public make healthier food decisions and reduce
overall calorie consumption," said the study's lead author, Amanda
Daley, a professor of behavioral medicine at Loughborough University
in the UK.
"We know that the public underestimates the number of calories in
food, so we need to find an easy method to make it easier for the
public to make healthier decisions about what they eat," Daley said
in an email. "We think the public will understand this better than
telling them how many calories are in a food item."
To determine if the type of labeling makes a difference in consumer
food choices, Daley and her colleagues scoured the medical
literature for trials that compared PACE labeling to standard labels
with just a calorie count or no calorie information at all.
The 14 studies they included in the current analysis "presented food
or gave menus of food options to participants with and without PACE
labeling, or the studies presented PACE labeling versus calories
only or versus traffic light labeling," Daley explained. "And they
asked participants what they would like to eat for a snack or for
lunch or dinner and so on."
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Daley's team found that when PACE labeling was displayed on foods,
drinks and menus, people consumed an average of 64.9 calories less
per meal than when only calorie counts were displayed.
The PACE labeling is "a cool idea," said Avigdor Arad, director of
the Mount Sinai PhysioLab and an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai St.
Luke's in New York City. "But we don't really have enough evidence
to say whether it's going to be effective. Certainly more trials are
needed."
Moreover, Arad said, the emphasis on calories might not be the best
way to get people to eat healthier since there's no information on
food quality.
"Certain foods are nutrient dense and also calorie dense," Arad
said. "We don't want people to develop a fear of consuming things
like nuts, avocados, figs and certain legumes."
Another potential problem is that the estimates of time running or
walking might seem unrealistic to some people because the rates at
which calories are burned depend on a number of factors, such as
age, weight and fitness, Arad said. So people might be skeptical of
the numbers on the labels, he added.
Still, Arad said, "it's an idea worth exploring further."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2LPiq5v Journal of Epidemiology & Community
Health, online December 10, 2019.
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