Harsh Menu Tactics: Would This Make You Put The Burger Down?

It’s going to make for depressing reading, we know that much.

But will it work?

We’ve heard of calorie-counting and traffic light systems but now there’s a new way of nutritional value-sharing, menus will tell you how far you have to walk to burn off your favourite foods.

Researchers found diners who are counting calories are more likely to choose a healthier fast food snack if the menu states how many miles they have to walk to get rid of it than if it just has details on the calorie-intake.

The research, published in the journal Appetite, shows consumers also took more notice of the distance they would need to cover in miles, rather than the number of minutes walking involved.

Would you munch into the burger if you found out you had to walk about thirteen miles afterwards to walk it off?

The research suggests shoppers are able to visualise the full extent of the physical activity needed to burn off calorie intake when it is spelled out in distance terms and not time.

Burger orrrrrr.... grilled chicken?!

Experts at the University of North Carolina in the US wanted to see how different types of labelling affected consumer behaviour.

Each group had to choose fast food snacks from a menu that either gave no nutritional information at all, details of calorie content, the number of minutes walking needed to burn those calories off or number of miles needed to walk to achieve the same outcome.

The results showed customers given no details at all picked dishes that averaged around 1,020 calories each, about half a woman's recommended daily calorie intake.

Those given calorie content alone went for foods averaging 927 calories.

But the volunteers told how many minutes walking were needed opted for average calorie intake of 916 and those informed how many miles they would have to cover just 826 calories.

The researchers said although small study groups were used, the so-called 'walk it off' menus appeared to have a potentially powerful effect.

“The menu with calories and the number of miles to walk to burn those calories appeared to be the most effective in influencing the selection of lower calorie meals,” their report read.

“The majority of participants , 82 per cent, said they preferred physical activity-based menu labels over those with calorie information or nothing at all.”