MANHATTAN — City laws requiring restaurants to post calorie information don't just make you feel guilty — they also make you buy food with fewer calories, according to a new study heralded by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The study, which surveyed and checked receipts of more than 15,000 fast-food customers throughout the city, found that those who paid attention to the calorie counts purchased 106 fewer calories on average than those who didn’t, the Health Department said in a statement.
One in six customers — 15 percent — reported taking advantage of the nutrition information when the most recent data was collected in spring 2009, a year after New York became the first city to require calorie postings, the statement noted.
“Posted calorie listings help consumers make healthier choices,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley in a statement. “Considering the extremely high rates of obesity, these types of systematic changes to the food environment are needed to make a difference in combating today's obesity epidemic."
A nationwide version of the New York calorie posting law will go into effect within the next year as part of the health care reform bill of 2010, according to the DOH.
In addition to changing purchasing behavior, the calorie-posting requirement also gives chains “a greater incentive to reformulate their products and offer healthier options," Dr. Lynn Silver, director of the Office of Science and Policy in the Health Department's Bureau of Chronic Disease, noted in the statement.
The study did not address some concerns raised in a separate study released last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association that reportedly found dishes from fast-food chains and restaurants packed approximately 100 to 275 more calories per serving than were posted on their nutritional information sheet.
The study’s release coincided with a Tuesday announcement by McDonald’s that they will make a series of nutritional improvements to their menu.
Among the changes is a plan to automatically include apple slices and reduce the french-fry serving size in Happy Meals by 2012.
The company also promised to reduce the added sugar, saturated fat and calorie content of their adult menu items by 2020.
