Menu Based Calorie Counts Help – A Little Bit

A lot of restaurant operators were upset by the added cost of having to rework their menus to include caloric information.  Question-Would anybody even reference these things?  Answer-yes  but the impacts are limited.

A new study has found that calorie counts on restaurant menus have really been helping Americans stay fit. Study author John Cawley conducted an experiment with over 5,500 diners in real-world restaurants and found that calorie labels led customers to order 3% fewer calories.

Before you scoff that off consider the drop amounted to about 45 fewer calories consumed per meal.  Cawley said that this was due to the reductions in calories ordered as appetizers and entrees.  The extra information hasn't changed behavior much in the areas of drinks or desserts.

Cawley calculated that over a three-year period, the calorie cut would lead to weight loss in the range of one pound. The findings were published in the National Bureau of Economic Research.   Baby steps and baby steps are better than no steps at all.  (UPI)