Minutes help people eat healthier
...people tend to choose low-calorie foods and eat healthier in general. These were the results of a new study...
When menus are presented with the number of minutes of brisk walking it takes to burn off the calories contained in different food options, people tend to choose lower-calorie meals and eat healthier overall. These were the results of a new study presented at the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting in Boston. Lead researcher Meena Shah, of Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, says in a press release: “This is the first study to examine the effects of viewing minutes of brisk walking, necessary to burn calories from the food consumed.” Shah and his colleagues were looking for a new angle to get people to consume fewer calories in restaurants. Recent studies suggest that the introduction of calorie values on menus, as required by the new laws, does not appear to be having the desired effect. The idea behind the new legislation is to encourage consumers to make healthy food choices. That they are informed, showing them the energy values of the foods. Research from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently revealed that, on average, adults in the US receive more than 11% of their daily calories from fast food. In people’s presentation the caloric values of food choices don’t seem to be working. Nutritionists have been searching for new approaches. One that is currently being explored, as in this study, comes from the plausible idea that if you tell people how long they would have to exercise to burn the calories in a given food option, they can more easily visualize and try to imagine what they would have to do to burn a given number of calories. “We need a more effective strategy to encourage people to order and consume fewer calories from restaurant menus.” Shah explains. “Brisk walking is something that almost everyone can relate to. So they show us on the menu the minutes of brisk walking needed to burn calories from food.” says co-author Ashlei James, also of TCU. For their study, the researchers recruited 300 men and women between the ages of 18 and 30. They were invited to eat in restaurants. There they were randomly assigned to be given one of three menus to choose from their meal options. All three menus looked identical and had the same options. One of them showed the number of minutes of brisk walking that would be required to burn off the calories for each option. Another showed the number of calories in each option. And the third menu didn’t show any calorie numbers or walking minutes. None of the participants were told the purpose of the study. “All menus contain the same dishes. Which include burgers, chicken sandwiches/tenders, salad, fries, candy, soft drinks and water,” says James. The researchers found that participants whose menus did not show calories or minutes of walking information ordered consumed more calories than those whose menus showed the number of minutes it takes to walk briskly to burn off calories. But it is interesting that this is also true of the participants whose menus showed the number of calories. Participants also ordered and consumed fewer calories compared to the group whose menus gave no information. Shah also said the findings suggest “there are benefits to visualizing minutes of exercise for a group of young men and women.” However, he cautioned that the participants were under 30. So it would be wrong to assume that these results are representative of all people who frequently attend chain restaurants. That’s why the team intends to do the same study with a larger, more diverse group. Shah says many of the participants were surprised to see how much exercise they would have to do to burn off some of the menu options. “For example, a woman would have to walk briskly for about 2 hours to burn off the calories in a double quarter pounder with cheese,” she says.
