Young People Notice Calorie Labeling Too
Published at
iStock/Thinkstock(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Some of the most important reading college students can do is in the cafeteria.
A new study from the United Kingdom says that young people do pay attention to calorie labeling of food when it’s prominently displayed over a period of time. As a result, it helps them to keep weight off.
Lead researcher Charoula Konstantia Nikolaou, a PhD student from the University of Glasgow, and her team first set up a calorie information display for just five weeks out of a 36-week academic year in one college dining room.
By the end of the year, the average weight-gain of students was just under eight pounds. In the second year, the calorie information was shown for 30 weeks. When that year ended, students reported that their weight stayed constant.
Research supervisor Mike Lean said that students during year two reported paying attention to calorie information and ordered healthier meals that wound up containing 18 percent fewer calories.
Another benefit: school caterers said their costs on food ingredients were lowered by a third when students made healthier choices.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio