Like any fitness program, it works only if you pay attention to it.
A study on the city’s effort to encourage healthy eating by posting calorie counts on menus shows that it works for about one in six customers — or those who pay heed to them. Those who ignored the numbers or didn’t see them, ordered whatever they wanted, regardless of how fattening it was.
On any given visit, customers who looked at the counts generally ordered about 100 fewer calories than those who didn’t, according to the study conducted by city officials and published yesterday in the British medical journal .
The study was the first large-scale look at the initiative’s effect at several chains.
Lynn D. Silver, assistant commissioner of the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and one of the study’s authors, said it showed modest gains in getting people to order lower-calorie meals. But she said the law also led restaurants to widen their offerings of healthier foods, such as salads.
“Calorie labeling alone won’t cure the obesity epidemic, but it is one part of trying to address it,” Silver said.
