14 DAY TRIAL // Several years ago, a new rule called for fast food vendors to display nutritional facts about their products on each of them, so as to inform people about the choices they are making, and make them more aware of their health. The public health initiative yielded no tangible results.
After a year of surveys, researchers could not find any change in patterns for people who consume fast-food. The nutritional and caloric contents of what they are eating seems to be of little interest to them, as long as the cheeseburger and the French fries taste good.
Authorities have been trying to steer the population of the developed world toward healthier food choices for years, but with little luck. Consuming fast foods have been proven to be extremely detrimental to individuals, and cause a host of problems,
Diabetes and obesity are among the most severe. The problem is so widespread that it has become the norm, rather than the exception, to see fat people all over the place. in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
In the US, for example, more than two thirds of the population is overweight, and one third suffers from obesity at various degrees. This incurs massive costs on public healthcare systems, and those costs are about to spiral out of control as the population of these nations grows.
In King County, Seattle, authorities imposed regulations at all Taco Time locations, that called for the restaurant chain to display caloric and nutritional values at each of its sites. After 13 months, customer behavioral patterns were compared to those displayed by clients at locations elsewhere.
Researchers were unable to find any differences, which means that the awareness campaign had no effect whatsoever on what people ate. This demonstrates yet again the length people would go to to harm themselves for passing pleasures.
“Given the results of prior studies, we had expected the results to be small, but we were surprised that we could not detect even the slightest hint of changes in purchasing behavior as a result of the legislation,” explains Eric Finkelstein, PhD.
“The results suggest that mandatory menu labeling, unless combined with other interventions, may be unlikely to significantly influence the obesity epidemic,” says the scientist, who was the lead author of the new investigation, PsychCentral reports.
“A simple logo identifying which foods are healthiest may be all it takes to convey that information to those consumers who wish to choose a healthier alternative. The additional information appears not to have made a difference,” the scientist says.
Details of the investigation will be published in the February issue of the esteemed American Journal for Preventive Medicine.