Better menu labelling could trim waists

Including nutritional information on restaurant and café menus may help to tackle the growing problem of obesity, a new study suggests.

A new Cochrane Review of evidence found nutritional labelling on menus may reduce a person’s calorie intake.

Researchers found labelling on menus in restaurants led to a reduction of 47 calories purchased.

Assuming an average meal of 600 kcal, labelling on menus would reduce the number of calories purchased per meal by 7.8%, they said.

However, the authors stressed the quality of evidence reviewed was “low” and they were only “tentatively” suggesting nutritional labelling on menus in restaurants could be used as part of measures to tackle obesity.

They called for more high quality evidence to strengthen the findings.

The Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of 40 health bodies and charities, said the study showed clear labelling helps people make informed choices about the food they eat and restaurant food can be a large portion packed with hidden ingredients.

Researchers, who examined a total of 28 studies on food labelling, said they were unable to reach conclusions about the effect of labelling on calories bought from grocery stores or vending machines because the evidence was limited.

They called for more research to address the “dearth of evidence” from these places and more studies to confirm the findings on restaurant menus.

The review’s lead author, professor Theresa Marteau, director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at Cambridge University, said: “This evidence suggests using nutritional labelling could help reduce calorie intake and make a useful impact as part of a wider set of measures aimed at tackling obesity.

“There is no ‘magic bullet’ to solve the obesity problem, so while calorie labelling may help, other measures to reduce calorie intake are also needed.”

Getty. Picture: Experts think nutrition information on menus could help cut our calorie intake.