Study Shows Far-Reaching Advantages of Menu Calorie Labeling

I remember when I was younger (I’m 21 now) that commercials on tv for Happy Meals at McDonalds always showed the meal with fries as a side. Now, from the few that i’ve caught on tv while babysitting, it seems the default side is those apple slices.

The issue seems to be much the same with trying to get people to become more conscious about energy and water use no direct monetary amount. I bet if the menu said, “You are going to pay X more dollars in healthcare for this item” people might think more seriously. You would think that people would change behavior for other more “righteous” reasons, but it seems like cash works the best. I wish they would try something like this.

How can you measure meat and beans using the same serving size? They contain VASTLY different amounts of protein!

Thats the first time i got recommended something from this guy

How about rescheduling marijuana. How do you expect anyone to believe you about anything when you list pot as one of the most dangerous drugs? Makes you look like a liar or a dolt. Which is it?

I wonder if menu labeling has another potential effect not discussed here. I don’t eat out regularly, so when I do I tend to splurge including on calories. But knowing how many calories I’m consuming when I eat out does influence my decisions about what I eat BEFORE and AFTER that meal. So while I’m not consuming fewer calories at the restaurant, I may consume fewer calories when I get home to compensate. I’m just a sample size of one, but it sounds like this study only addressed the decisions people make AT the restaurant.

Thank you. I am a disabled veteran. I cannot walk very much. My legs are all messed up, especially my right leg, and neck and back are fused. My ankles, feet, shoulders, and hands are also tore up, and my left hand is mostly paralyzed. I have to get my weight back down now that my operations are done. I am going to diet and just work my arms. I took a lot of notes and I am going to give it hell. I have 3 boys that I have to get healthy for. They have been doing most everything with their mom through all of this, and I am going to try to get to where I can do more.

F..king hell. telling people to eat 5 times a day is modern nutritional advice.

Nothing like going blind trying to read Small print, think you could put larger text on your labels?

@Healthcare Triage  It’s too bad it does not change overall calorie intake on average. However, in many ways, that is irrelevant. I can think of a couple of reasons menu labeling should happen.

1. Just on principle, we should have access to information on what we are eating. Whether it changes my choices or not, I at least want to be able to know what I’m eating. If it’s hidden, it could be ANYTHING and that’s scary. 

2. I would think the food companies would want to label their food to avoid any future liability. Tobacco companies hid information from us that had an impact on our health and they were found liable for huge damages. It’s not unreasonable to expect the same could happen to the food industry. The more they label, the more they can defend themselves by saying, “you knew exactly what you were eating when you purchased it.”  

3. Labeling may not affect our total calorie intake, but it may help make us happier. Your granola vs hamburger example is perfect. If you see the bowl of granola with milk has the same fat as a burger, but the burger makes you happier, then the labeling has had an effect on your choice. While the calorie count has not changed, you are happier. The same goes for me when I discovered that those chopped salads at places like Fridays or California Pizza Kitchen are loaded with calories, I started choosing items with similar calories but that are much more satisfying. 

Anecdotally, I have personally chosen what I’ve ordered many times based on calorie counts on the menu. I may be in the minority, but I like having the information. So, I like having it and I’d like to see more of it.

Whether it’s the government’s role to require this or not is a political/policy question and I can see both sides of the argument. Perhaps a better approach would be to pass a law that says, “Companies who make accurate calorie and ingredient information easily available to consumers CANNOT be held liable for damages that food may cause to the health of the consumer.”  That would give companies a strong incentive to label accurately since the law would provide a safe haven.

Calorie counts only matter if people already care! Personally I REALLY appreciate when there are calorie counts!

I don’t want to be given advice and information I want to be told precisely what to do.  Where are my giant economy sized packs of government sanctioned nutriglop “the only food you’ll ever need.” Giving me thousands of different choices just gives me thousands of ways to get it wrong.

It’s distinctly possible that when their behavior didn’t change because when people go out to eat at places like this they already know they are being indulgent.

Because that would cost money and we don’t have that, unless it’s for the military. Then we have 600 billion.

how do you know those bigmacs have the accurate caloric count on the package tho

Question: do calorie labels aid specifically people trying to lose weight by counting calories in doing so? Or do people trying to lose weight via that strategy do so just as effectively without menu labels?

So i have a question, i’m 6,6 and i weigh 222 lbs. Since last week i started counting my macro’s and my daily need of calories. If i want to bulk up i need;
3531 calories
258 grams of proteïn
82 grams of fat
440 grams of carbs

If i want to cut i need;
2821 calories
258 grams of proteïn
82 grams of fat
264 grams of carbs

Normally i eat around 2400/2500 calories a day.
My question now is, what will happen if i start eating 2821 calories with those exact grams of proteïn, fat and carbs?

Since i normally eat less, will i bulk up and gain more fat? Or will my body react positively because it truly needs those amounts of calories and grams?

I’m from Holland so i may have made some grammar mistakes��

Why not report the fda & Democratic Congress trying to ban SARMS for literally not being Fda approved & two out of the dozens out there caused liver toxicity given to rats at 20x human dosage. But let cigarettes be legal $$

Knowing that the salad that could feed a family of six has 900 calories per “serving” does not do you any good when the restaurant only serves that giant portion. Restaurants need to have standard portion sizes if you’re to really make a difference in calories consumed.

I’m a diabetic, so it’s a minefield out thar in restaurants. I’m a yuge tipper when the Waiter understands my query as to ‘added sugar?’ with aplomb. Even better when the menu simply has a low carb section….

If I was to eat the recommended calorie intake I would put on a lot of weight. I’m 5ft 10in and 70kg and I survive on around 1200 calories a day. If I was to eat about 800 more calories, well that wouldn’t be good

So it isn’t an information issue. So what is causing the problem?

Who cares if it doesnt change everyone behavior? At least the people who want to take care of themselves will be able to with calorie labels.

Worked today for me. I couldn’t find anything I wanted to eat under 300 calories, so I left.

@ 4:25 do all restaurant employees, fast food and sit down, touch our food with their bare hands? Who knows if they actually washed their hands after they used the bathroom..

Why do you pick fights with things that have no negatives? I love having the calories available to me. Why argue against it just because the majority don’t care?

It helps me, because I can put it in MyFitnessPal for my daily calorie count. But plenty of people just aren’t interested. Yesterday I saw a lady with obvious joint problems you could tell by her crutches and the way she walked, typical osteoarthritis who said “why should I lose weight at my age? I don’t see any reason to.” Sigh.

This lunitic commissioner is assuming that people care. Leave us alone. We don’t need a nanny; especially from government!

Yeah… this isn’t surprising at all. Honestly it seems more like a habit/an addictive behaviour.. but I don’t know.

Note to self: Keep eating unprocessed foods like you’ve been.

Also, if you have an ED. Smiles look good on you! (:

hi, with intermitent fasting one should reacomodate the portion sizes in a shorter lapse time? like for example compressing the eating schedule

How quickly did anti-smoking policies work? Calories is a starting point, eventually we will regulate more and they will have to include grams for each ingredient, we deserve to know what they are serving, it’s not just a nutrition or health outcome policy, it’s a freedom of information policy, consumers have a right to consume unhealthy products sometimes, we have a right to regulate, part of the regulation that we want is a disclosure of the ingredients.

How about adding a color scale to labeling? Like a green label for low calorie to red for the highest calorie based on standard serving. Make it big and bright and simple for people. I think numbers tend to confuse people and or make it hard to make choices, but maybe if a consumer knows they can have 10 “green” servings a day or 2 “red” then maybe this will improve behavior.

May I ask….What percentage number/range would be considered a high number for saturated fat?

The downsizing thing makes me wonder if just offering more options as to portion sizes might help. If instead of small, medium and large, there were, say, 6 portion sizes, people might order a medium-large rather than a large because that’s really what they want.

Love the vids but I think I can see a universal flaw in all of the studies mentioned in this clip. For instance let me use myself as an example. I count my calories and still order what would be considered excessive calories when I go out to eat but then with that knowledge of how many calories I consumed (thanks to menu items having that info) I curtail my consumption during the rest of the day or following days. Why are the calories consumed at the restaurant considered the end point for all of these studies? I think having caloric info on menus is very helpful in combating obesity but these studies use an inappropriate endpoint

Now I can’t help but imagine a conversation like this:
American 1: Hey how many calories are there in this triple mega extra grease 36 pieces pizza?
American 2: Worry not dear sir, this is only 320 calories low fat exclusive! Perfect for a quick supper!
American 1: Perfect! I’ll have 3 please and also 2 kilos of donuts for my kids’ breakfast tomorrow morning! Actually, I’ll have just one pizza, I’m on a diet.
Edit: I feel my body bloating just by watching the video

This was such a great video. Thank you so much for sharing! 2.4K likes! Think of how many lives you have helped just by this 37 min video… awesome job!

Admittedly the only time I pay significant attention to calories is when I’m debating two or more items and can’t decide. I then let the calorie count be the tie breaker.

I used not only this video but other one that have come out of UCLA sports center. It was helpful for my nutrition 100 course.

Great teaching and information given but it makes no sense eating all those healthy foods to improve your immune system and organs if you’re just going to end up infecting your body by eating pig which is known and proved by scientists to contain thousands of bad bacteria and diseases which in no way shape or form should be consumed by any human. As any professional dietician or health doctor in any field, that should’ve definitely been something you were taught beforehand.

Menu labeling doesn’t work, except for the people that actually use them.

Ok I haven’t seen anyone pointing this out in the last 500 comment so here it is:
It doesn’t matters. As long as the ERROR is a CONSTANT (let’s say close to 10% in the MAJORITY of the cases) than it does not matter. You maintenance calories will be yes virtually lower but they wil still be the amount that makes your weight stay the same. Some basic math knowledge.

Such an Amazing video with excellent content. I love how you built each concept on top of each other. You really put the learner in mind first in this presentation ���� thank you. Quality always stands out.

Hello, i’ve a question!!!

IF yes, with your calorimeter you can know how much calories is in your aliments (with the heat transfer from a combustion to water bla bla bla… q=mC*delta T).

 How can you know, how much carbohydrate or lipid or protein is in this aliments? How can you difference 4 calories from 1g of carbohydrate to 4 calories from 1g of protein!!!!

That’s a mystery for me:O

Calorie counts on menus actually help me a lot. But that’s only because I struggle to get enough calories in a day, not because I’m trying to cut calories out of my diet.

I’m tired of hearing about calories. It’s so overrated. Not that caloric intake isn’t important to consider, by it’s much more important to consider actual ingredients and making sure we have a good balance of the right ingredients and don’t over indulge on the less healthy ingredients. The only people that really need to consider calories are those watching their weight or trying to lose weight… IN COMBINATION with balanced and healthy food ingredients. Eating less calories does NOT mean you are eating healthy, just that you’re eating less.

counting calories doesn’t work. people may be eating so much because the food they eat has very little nutritional value and therefore they are actually starving as they continue to gain weight. the body is just trying to get something it can use, it is not as simple as energy in / energy used. the energy in has to be usable for our bodies or it is like we never ate. i was obese. on the 32 flavors diet for most of my life. 7 years ago that changed and i maintain a normal weight. we truly are what we eat.

Calories are bullshit!!!!!!!! Eat whatever you want as long as you work out as hard as you eat.

As someone who is desperately trying to lose weight by counting and tracking calories, I really hope more restaurants label calories, forced or otherwise. I hate having to blindly guess and hope that the food is close to what I’m calculating. Also offering more reasonable portion sizes would be nice, because as restaurant portions currently are, most people could stand to eat about half of the given amount of food, but when the food is placed before us, we are unlikely to eat a sensible portion, especially if we grew up with the “clean your plate because there are starving kids in Africa” mentality.

You don’t say whether the studies measured whether seeing these calorie counts caused people to eat at home more, and in restaurants less.

If people keep calling them “calories” instead of the proper “Kilocalories”, it’s no wonder they’d think they can keep over-eating.

Creating laws and regulations to try and solve your problems is almost never the right answer. People need to start taking responsibility for themselves instead of thinking the government can do it for them. For those wanting to know the caloric content of the food, restaurants having that information available is fantastic, but making it law to be on menus will likely only result in higher costs of the food. Stop looking towards the government to solve all your problems for you! Lazy! All you get is more freedoms stripped away from you.

There’s business opportunity here. You can try to build lab to test food and create a brand like calories certified. Ensuring the calories is trustable.

I don’t go out to eat regularly, because it’s expensive… So I could really care less what the calorie count is when I’m kind of spoiling myself already.

My mate laughed when I told them I was planning to lose weight with just using Custokebon Secrets, but after I showed them incredible results after I used it they are begging me to share with them about it. Of course I won’t let them know the details about this diet plan, hahaha

Part of the problem is that when my family eats out, we don’t worry about calorie counts that much. We view it as a treat. The question is how many of these people eat out a lot?

You should remember that it matters where the calories are coming from. For example, 100 calories in cheese is going to react differently in your body than 100 calories in apples. For me, it was better to take the Weight Watchers approach and look at the amount of fiber, fat, carbs, and protein.

No one should need “research” to realize that counting calories is a distraction, and absolute bullshit.  Calories are the measurement of energy that is contained in a given amount of food.  It doesn’t matter what the calorie distribution is between the different nutrients, the number of calories will give NO indication as to how exactly a particular food will affect one’s metabolism and/or if they will gain weight or not.

Any and all “convenience” foods will be high in something that will make you gain weight.  And any ready-made meal one buys outside, will most likely have everything that will make you gain weight.  You wanna eat a pizza/burger/sub, and have let’s say, ice cream for dessert?  Besides the fact that excess pizza consumption is just asking for heart disease, all three of those are extremely high in sodium, fat, and, carbs.  Excess sodium dehydrates the body, and makes people retain extra water weight.  Consuming a high amount of saturated fat is bad for two reasons: 1) saturated fat is the type that solidifies in the body, and 2) fat is used by the body LAST, for energy. and carbs are used first.  Carbs are the first and primary source of energy for the body, but unused carbs are converted into fat, which, needless to say, will make you gain weight.  Finally, sugars are broken down into carbs, and as already stated above, if these carbs go unused, they will be converted into fat, and more weight gain.

That is everything one needs to know, if they want to prevent becoming obese.  Not that “counting calories” bullshit that the mainstream media shoves down people’s thoats.

Speak for yourself. I greatly appreciate calorie labels and follow them religiously. I like to have peace of mind about what I ordered and I enter it into MyFitnessPal. Of course people won’t care about calorie counts if they don’t give a shit in the first place.

Yeah but the vegan sandwich shouldn’t be compare to a mcdonals bc of the nutrients and fiber, it’s just not the same. Good video btw i didn’t thought that the labels could be wrong

How effective is Custokebon Secrets? I have noticed numerous awesome things about this popular lose weight diet plan.

Aaron Carroll,

You seem a bit jaded… calorie counting does in fact seem to work. I am perhaps a acceptable example of that. I tried a lot of ways of losing weight and it eventually came down to calorie counting.

I think what this shows is less that posting calorie counts doesn’t work and more that the general public has poor conceptions of what it means… I know that when I started to calorie count I had so many skewed conceptions of what a serving was, how much I should be getting, how much I was actually getting, and so on…

There were times that before I calorie counted I saw the calories but I didn’t really estimate its impact on me correctly or I was not as willing to tally it up. I imagine that is the fundamental issue here… saying it ‘doesn’t work’ is an overstatement. But till there is motivation for people to in some way count and people understand what it means… I doubt the general public will ever benefit from it.

Take it from me… I was disillusioned… and for the better I might add.

I like having nutritional information on menus.  First, I think it encourages restaurants to think about their preparation methods and not go too crazy with calories.  Second, I will still order what I like, but I now know how to eat for the rest of the day to balance out splurge of going to a restaurant.  Third, it keeps me from thinking I have made a healthy food choice when I really haven’t.  Like the Blueberry Organic cereal he talks about in the videomany foods sound healthy but really aren’t.

God bless ya! I really benefited from this video and thank you for all your hard efforts.

Big government should stay out of our lives. Let us eat whatever we like. Who cares whats in our food. We have the best (#1 USA) medical doctors in the universe to put us back together from the shit we eat.
I’m a republican who has the right to a big beautiful weapon, I also have the right to my religion n my sky God to protect me n my terrorist country, I don’t want government interfering with the shit that I eat. So to you snowflakes stay away from me… my family n my country that I stolen from native Americans. Amen!!! MAGA!!! Thank you for your time! Peace n love!!!✌

Pro tip: try to decouple coffee from sweet taste. I used to drink coffee sweet but following “adults” (I was 17) around me I cut sugar and sweeteners pretty quickly. Now I find that sweet coffee tastes gross and wouldn’t drink it

Can you do a video on animal meat which is treated with antibiotics?

What about calorie COUNTING? Is there any evidence this is even a viable long term strategy for weight loss or maintenance?

I know people that have lost weight that way, but never for more than a year. I’ve never counted calories in my life, and I’m still a healthy weight at 50, but it’s because I have a healthy diet. Just avoid the crap (mostly), and eat more healthy stuff. If you have to count calories at a restaurant, you should not be eating there IMHO. At least not very often.

Agreed with everything until you mentioned that plant base diet is not the best. Genesis 1:29 God is the best Nutritionist because he designed the human body

It’s pretty annoying to be a slightly under average-weight young female. There’s such a small window between being calorie deficient and overeating.

Ok, so the video is spot on and great, but for me, the calorie content of a restaurant is nearly irrelevant, not because I don’t care about my diet or health, but because I don’t frequently eat out and when I do eat out it is usually my “cheat meal” for the week.

My wondering therefore, is whether any of these studies controlled for the eating habits of the people visiting the restaurants. Those that eat out frequently might behave differently than those who eat out infrequently. I wouldn’t guess that the data would be too different, considering the original studies likely contained both sets of individuals, but I’m still curious.

Additionally, laws that mandate labeling of certain things, calories in a restaurant being one of them, are created from a belief that people will ACT better if only they are able to be educated on what the best action is. Long decades of experience with this belief has contradicted this conclusion. People still make unwise decisions; some unwise decisions have increased (teen pregnancy cough) despite information campaigns to change behavior.

Human behavior is a hard thing to change after all. Our behavior is learned, conditioned, or derived from social structures and values more than arrived at rationally.

why do people misunderstand healthy by low calories…. i mean comeon even the guy in the video he said like the sandwich say healthy and shows the cals and says that a lot of cals… yeah they are a lot of cals but that dosent mean its not healthy. healthy means a good balance of nutrients thats it that is what healthy means it dosent mean low cals…. and on the note fruit juices are healthy too but have u ever counted the cals of a glass of an apple juice or any other juice…exactly the yare high in cals but they are healthy and there are many many other examples just research stuff not ever thing u see is real……

Why da fuck is all of the food in the stores wrapped in plastic foil??

We had reports in Scotland, where we have a population drinking problem which suggested that putting calorie counts on alcohol might have a slight effect. However it only really showed to be statisitcally prevalent amongst women; many who are already influenced greatly by society about body image.

Everyone that drink water dies. While I try to stay on the “healthy” side, I do not look at calories in food. Sure, I know that once a week pizza isn’t healthy, but I’d rather live a bit than just give up and wait to die.

Well… Giving people information ON THE SPOT isn’t conclusive, that’s not to say it may not be conclusive to run long term campaigns on the very issue…

Same with your conclusion: you argue that since 3 studies conclude to the ineffectiveness of the mesure on small samples, we should stop.
But since it’s been really really effective for me (I discovered it in the US a year ago and found it very helpful) and I absolutely love to know what I’m ordering, I feel like more information on nutrition isn’t a bad thing overall…

Personally, I find menu labeling to be helpful. I have absolutely changed my mind about what I am going to order at restaurants due to the nutrition information provided. However, I am actively watching what I eat and trying to make the healthiest choices possible. Many healthy-appearing choices are actually calorie bombs, so accurate calorie information is very much appreciated. Of course, I don’t eat fast food, with the exception of the occasional Chic-fil-A salad.

I feel this channel is depressing we hear how things are ineffective or we aren’t able to implement something.

Ironically the ad I got before this video was for 100 calorie snack packs.

And Kiddies…Don’t forget to record your memorable meal by taking a selfie while making a stupid face.

You should know that 300kcal of a cheeseburger is not the same as 300kcal of broccoli.
The whole thing about calories is a lie and the big food lobbies are trying to fool you that it’s all about that.
I can tell you that it is not.
They try to tell you that you should count your calories and everything is good. But that’s not true.

It’s not the video that’s triggering for me. It’s the comments. Fuck pro ana/mia glorification.

Menu labeling doesn’t do anything about restaurants serving a single portion that will reasonably feed a family of four.

yeah it’s inaccurate but counting calories isn’t the only way to define healthy.

I am on a diet and have been for about 18 months and I have successfully lost 15kg. I am angry at these studies! Most people don’t care about their calories most of the time. The calorie labels are for those people who do care about their calories. You have measured how everyone responds to calorie counts but you should have measured people seriously committed to a diet who have already lost weight but have more to loose. I feel confident those people would respond to calorie labelling. I quite simply do not eat a restaurants now I do because I don’t know how many calories (or sodium) is in the food I am eating but my scales assure me it must have been a lot every time I have visited a restaurant.

Listening to alleged doctors talking about nutrition is hilarious. Why is the FDA allegedly doing rigorous testing on vaccines and yet allowing poisons, cancer causing agents and nano-particulates of toxic heavy metals into vaccines? Aiding and abetting in knowing & willful poisoning falls under RICO, attempted murder and more. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430660/

I only eat out once every 3 or 4 months, so when I do, it’s an indulgence, so I don’t worry about the calorie count (especially since that’s usually the only meal I eat that day). Did any of the studies look at how frequently people ate at restaurants? That would be a key bit of information, especially with the economy not having been the best in the last decade. It would also matter what time of day or night the data was gathered, how much the menu items cost (a cheaper healthy meal might be perceived as a less appetizing dish, or a pricier healthy option might be seen as not worth the hassle, etc.).

As an aspiring bodybuilder, I really appreciate menu labels. I like to know what my macros can fit when I go out to eat. Even if it’s an estimate at best, it’s better than nothing.

Labeling alone won’t work because people don’t know what to do with the information given. What does 100g of carbs mean to the average person? How many people actually know what macros they need? Labeling without education is like giving a person the base and height of a triangle, then asking them to solve the area, but they don’t even know the formula for the area of a triangle. Why are these numbers on a nutrition label relevant to someone who has no idea how to use it?

Did any of them look at if the amount of food eaten changed? Like, did they order the same thing, but eat less of it?

Live in Seattle area, I know it doesn’t necessarily stop the over eating of many people, I do find it helpful for comparison and for entering in my food diary. I always believe more info is better.

What if the restaurants printed the total calories per person in the receipt, and added encouraging / discouraging words in big bold letters on the bottom? It’s one thing to look at your calorie intake on your own, and quite another to be under the illusion that someone’s judging you.

Claim: I know eating fast food is unhealthy.
Hypothesis: why I would order more if given more information…
If I assume blindly that it is bad for me, I will try to limit my consumption with an internal subconscious decision.  If I’m given facts that state ‘this burger meal is 66% of my daily calories/fat/salt/whatever’ I’ll say…”that’s fine, I’ll make up for it with a lighter…whatever next meal…breakfast etc.” because we tend to put less weight on negative memories than positive ones; “I will enjoy this burger now” and “I know dieting is crappy” have different weights in my decision matrix, and I will lean on the endorphin hit over the weak memory of diet pain every time.
Now…couple that with me being a super-heavy-fast-food-user (more than 4x a week easily) and that decision is repeated every time I go with no real memory of the compounding effect that the poor choices have.

Thanks a lot Mr. Correy, this is the perfect videos to learn and remember the basics components of nutrition. Very clear and understandable layout!

again, pushing false information based on trash science. Vegetables aren’t the way to nutrition and health. Eating less grains, sugars and starches are the way to optimal health as well as increaing your sources of animal product consumption and fiber. Fruits are pretty bad for humans these days and all the plant matter that people are pushing these days calls for monocropping massive areas of land and killing the microbiology and microforests that was once there and chemically farming that razed area which is bad for the atmosphere and the planet as a whole. I wish people that were genuinely interested in their health would actually delve into the research themselves instead of bleating the same old refrain they’ve always heard like some kind of parrot. Eat liver, spinach, eggs and get off the high processed junk and you’ll see improvements in your health and performance like you’ve never experienced and few will.

ergh… this video felt like it was missing the biggest picture of all… that people have behaviors and cravings… 
If I want a burger from McDonalds because I’m CRAVING for one, I’m gonna go get it. I already KNOW that it’s bad for me, yet because I crave it, I’m only human and I’m going to take care of my cravings.
If I’m already set on my choice, and I arrive at the place, handed info on calories and whatever, I’m still going to order my burger.
Cravings do not always follow logic (or what’s “best for you”).
Besides high calorie count, what I find most annoying is the amount you get and prices at restaurants (the sit-down type).
Depending on the place, sometimes you order something that is more than one servings. So if I get a dinner plate, the food on my plate might actually be worth two meals (and not one).
I’m trying to eat healthier/better and one of my main problems is portion control (not so much as to what I eat). I need to learn better to control my taste buds and take food home with me rather than eating the whole thing then and there. I personally wish dishes were smaller (WITH smaller prices), but people like more “bang for their buck”… so I guess I’m going to have to try and control myself better… ^^;
The first sentence of the video got the problem down right: “We’re eating too much”. It’s not always about high calories but the amount we eat.
(But yea there are a lot of foods in America that have high calories because of preservatives):/

I tend to buy what has the most calories per dollar. More food for the price.

Ontario Canada introduced menu labelling in all restaurants this year. It has had no effect on my or anyone I know’s ordering. It has made me feel guilty for eating it, though. The big controversy when it first came in was that it would be damaging to people trying to recover from anorexia and bulimia. They would be assaulted with calorie information wherever they went to eat.

On the topic of calorie labeling being potentially harmful: Many people with eating disorders or food related anxiety already obsess over calories, having the calorific content of your food shown to you with every food item that you buy/order can be hugely harmful in facilitating this.

people are fat because they don’t know that they are eating calorie dense foods. Obviously we need to label the foods with huge warnings. And people still smoke so many cigarettes because they don’t know that smoking is bad for your health. We need more warnings and labels! Also men rape women because they do not know that rape is bad, thanks to our rape culture. We need to tell men that rape is bad Also teenagers are dropping out of school because they don’t know that education is important. We need huge government programs to inform people that education is a good thing!

Nobody knows any of these things guys! we need more government to inform us, and we need more government regulation and more labels!

okay now that I got that out of my system, I’ll watch your video about how calorie labeling doesn’t do shit, obviously, because everyone but the IQ <60 know why they are fat and what foods to avoid, they just choose not to do so.

This was an amazing video, really brought light to a lot of things and now I have a much better understanding of things. Thank you very much bro really appreciate it.����

The general public has no idea how many calories they burn daily, and likely no idea how to figure it out. This is why merely telling people how much they’re eating in one meal is almost meaningess.

For people who already know how to track their caloric intake and monitor they’re weight (and thus adjust how much they eat), it’s a wonderful tool.

Once again a great episode on an interesting topic. I often use your videos in my classes, because the topics are relevant, but most importantly because you discuss research findings in an analytical and critical manner (regarding sample and effect sizes, research design, etc.). Something that is often forgotten when discussing research. Just wanted to say thank you to all of you for all your work and helping explain difficult topics in an easy manner, I know myself and my students appreciate this.

We have such laws here.  I love it.  This way when I find myself eating fast food I can at least avoid the mega-calorie meals.

Old data exists: Americans are too stupid for this to work. At least half the country voted for George Bush, twice. Then they almost elected Sarah Palin. Now large amounts of people are supporting Donald Trump.

Unless I missed something, it seems like there was no real distinction made in any of these studies between people in general and people who have a goal of trying to lose weight.

I live in the NYC area, where labeling is required in most restaurants.  Until about a year ago, I didn’t really care about my weight. As a result, I basically ignored the calorie counts.  I would sometimes even use them to find a high calorie food when I was particularly hungry.

About a year ago, I started watching my weight through calorie counting.  Being able to just look at the menu, rather than having to estimate or try search for the food online has been very helpful and I wish more restaurants provided the information right up on the menu.  I can also think of many instances where I specifically avoided a food, or ate only part of a food item that I would have otherwise finished, because I knew how many calories were in it.

That being said, I am concerned about the studies showing how inaccurate these labels can be..

So the fda is ok with actual smoking but not E smoking ggg wonder what influences that decision $$$

There are better uses for that money. They need to do a cost/benefit analysis on the menu changes. For the negligible gain, it increases costs across the board for restaurants.

It could also be argued that full menu disclosure of ingredients in each dish could prove more helpful. Anyway, it sounds too intrusive to me for minimal gain that has nothing to do with government. We do NOT need more, we need much less regulation.
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Nutrition facts are great, they just don’t help people that don’t care about nutrition.

1) I used to regularly buy a mocha drink at a coffee chain until i realized it was over 900 calories! I stopped
2) I always knew the golden arches did not serve healthy food and ate about 4-6 times a month, but when they started labeling I definitely became more aware and less likely to go there especially since i have a kid…but did I stop completely. No. Just reduced the number of times.
3 ) I love your channel and how you present the research:)

“carbs are the main source of fuel for our bodies…” really? how come they are not an essential macro nutrient then? if you stop eating carbs nothing happens, you will be healthy. if you stop eating protein or fat you DIE.

The two obvious problems with calorie counts: It only helps if you already care, and most people’s diets do not consist mostly of eating at restaurants. Number two is very relevant. It doesn’t really matter much to me how much I’m eating when I eat out, because it’s a treat already. Impacting what people eat at restaurants would do very little to their overall health compared to changing what they eat on a daily basis.

well watching calories is the new failed diet plan. keto diet is proven by smaller independent studies to work, because it turns the body to a more efficient energy source called ketose, which is 70% more energy efficient than glucose, and has been shown to help increase energy, brain power, and a amazing fat burner.
some of the great phlisiphers like socrates used the diet.

now, the question is: why can’t the FDA promote a proven diet that actually works with the most people? the answer is BIG PHRAMA DOESN’T WANT YOU TO BE HEALTHY, THEY LOVE SICK POPULATIONS AND THEY HAD THE FDA UNDER THEIR CONTROL FOR DECADES NOW!!!!!!!
so, fuck this bullshitting commissioner of the FDA, hes a fucking idiot if he thinks his degree is above the people of the united states of america!!!

some places already do this, and i just ignore it because it’s simply annoying. since i have food allergies, though, what i would be interested in is a list of ingredents.

If information doesn’t make people change their behavior then why is smoking so much less than it used to be? Part of the problem is that counting calories is a time consuming process and a lot of people who lose weight gain it right back. I think it’s more about avoiding certain items like sugar and other empty calories rather than focus on calories themselves. I don’t count calories at all, but during breakfast and lunch I eat whole grains, plant based food. I don’t eat meat and I rarely eat sugar. In the evenings I am more flexible and will eat a broader range of food, but I generally try to avoid breaded foods and other empty calories. I lost 20 pounds when I switched to this diet. To lose weight I did count calories. But in order maintain my weight I haven’t had to court any calories.

FDA They know about the aditive who make you constantly hungrig, by anihilate the saturat hormon in stomac.

What about chem Trails? chem trails kill..stop spraying us. oh but lets bomb Syria. for same crimes.

The study should have looked at people who were actively motivated to eat better. For me the menu labeling has been very helpful. When I see it it does change my decisions. I’ve gone down 5 sizes over the last year just by paying attention.

Any attempt to bring about social change of any type of though schemes that focus on individual action and choices are doomed to failure. The 1001 systematic thingies that nudge things towards the worse way will still be there. Trying to tackle obesity using shame has been tired for decades and it has been at best uneffective if they want to exactly do something rather then just feel smug they have to try other levers.

I feel like the declared calorie count should always have a percentage more added onto it to take in account the discrepancy.

I’m really worried about the impact of menu labelling on people recovering from EDs. Many of us have to put a lot of effort into avoiding calorie counts because it can easily trigger a relapse. So aside from the financial cost, there are other costs to requiring menu labelling. I don’t know what the right answer is, mind you, and I see how they can be helpful for many people.

I’ve literally heard my brother say that he always buys the higher calorie items so that way he gets his monies worth.

He srsly is of the opinion that low calorie items were intentionally put there to rip people off.

Who uses a p-value of 0.07? Use 0.1, 0.05, 0.01, or stay in imagination land.

I’m going to offer a few different counter-points that weren’t addressed by this video based on my anecdotal experience:

1)Culture change takes time. I remember when I first started seeing calorie counts in some restaurants, I didn’t pay much attention because the numbers meant little to nothing to me. I had little to compare them to, and didn’t know how many calories I should have on a daily basis. However, once I became slightly more health conscious, I remember being amazed by the calorie counts. There are so many different items that are astoundingly bad for you that I never would have guessed. It was incredibly beneficial to me in my dieting path, but you may not have picked up on any changes I made during one of those studies because…

2)Having calorie counts at restaurants made me less likely to eat at certain restaurants, not necessarily choose the healthier option at the restaurant. I used to love to eat at Taco Bell. It’s cheap, I like the taste, and I figured that the bean burritos I got weren’t that much worse for me than anything I could make at home. However, once I found out the actual calorie counts of certain items, I realized how many more calories I was eating than I thought, and now I only go there if it’s a cheat day. Meaning I’ll eat there less frequently, but when I do, I’m more likely to eat an additional hundred calories or so.

3)When I am tracking calories and I eat out, even if I don’t choose the healthier option, the calorie counts still help me. This is because I now know that I just ate 1200 calories for lunch and will make sure to have a light dinner.

Obesity is such a huge issue in the United States, that when you take into account the medical expense, lost productivity and loss of quality of life, anything that helps in reducing calorie intake by a fraction of a percent will still pay huge dividends. If it’s costly to businesses, subsidize it. If they aren’t posting true calorie counts, enforce it. If there’s a large range in what might be served as a serving, put the range on the menu. Because there won’t be enough studies of sufficient scope and rigor to prove that calorie counts are effective in any form at reducing weight for many years to come. And without that proof that they aren’t effective, the guess that they should be is enough to warrant almost any reasonable cost spent on it.

Calories are not nearly harmful for health as cholesterol, saturated fats and eating animals and drinking animal breast milks in general. There should be warnings next to any animal products on menus and fruits and vegetables should be promoted above all else.

The government should stop subsidizing foods that are destroying peoples health, the planet and propagate animal slavery. If people could buy a bag of apples for $1 and the carcass of an animal was $100 we would see an extremely healthy, long living and a higher IQ population emerge.

Thanks so much. I really appreciate this video and gave me the help needed for having a healthy and functional ing body. Thanks again

I appreciate this video. I wish more people were aware of this. I’ve lost 76 pounds (and counting), &I’ve been overweight my entire life. I take my calorie counts VERY seriously. It’s so disturbing and ignorant of companies to give false information / not care enough to try.

Saying we shouldn’t have labeling because people do not have the willpower or common sense to change their eating habits is like saying we shouldn’t have seat belts in cars because people don’t use them. A minority of people use the labeling to great effect. People that regularly eat fast food, however, are likely not very health conscious, so they are not representative of the entire population.

Personally, menu labeling sets off  ED symptoms for me. It DOES make me order less calories, because it scares me. 
In addition, it’s more likely for me to change what I’d order from a meal and water, to a (calorie containing) drink and side dish, where instead I’d have chosen a meal and water.

the soda tax would work if they increased it. you can’t just add 30 cents and expect results. gotta be a huge tax.

Does anyone know that the Joule (SI symbol: J), the SI unit for energy, is the most widely-used unit for food energy outside of the United States?

Best video I have ever seen about nutrition. This information is really organized, to the point and well explained!

Only 100 more calories variation? That’s 0.1 kilocalories. I think that’s pretty accurate.

I really love calorie labeling, but then, I’m already health conscious. Just recently I picked one salad over a different one because of the calorie count. I hate that some menus have “salads” that have 1500 calories. And I watched my husband order a lighter portion instead of a regular portion. Of course I know, the plural of instances isn’t data. I just personally appreciate it.

What about cutting subsidies to corn, milk, beef, etc. and instead offer those subsidies on healthier food choices? That seems to be the best choice.

We need a zombie apocolypse.. keeping skinny enough to run will then have a suitably attractive quality and encourage sensible calorific intakes in most… those unable to develop this instinct will, over time, diminish anyway…

Thanks for the Video clip! Excuse me for the intrusion, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you ever tried Dinanlinson Natural Beauty Approach (should be on google have a look)? It is a good one of a kind product for learning what to eat to look younger minus the headache. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my close friend Aubrey at very last got cool results with it.

When I’m at a restaurant, it’s usually a special occasion so I’m interested in getting something I’ll enjoy and don’t consider health as nearly as much as at home. I would ignore calorie counts, if not intentionally get the more calorific option

Now I’m gonna double over estimate my food ahhh this is making me more paranoid than I was before it’s driving me crazy

I know I’m in the minority here, but I personally wish the menu calorie labeling wasn’t a thing. Why? Because as someone who is in recovery from a restrictive eating disorder, it’s incredibly hard for me. I fight myself hard not to count calories. I get that for some people that’s a really healthy thing to do. For me it is not. Not when my goal for years was to stay between 300-500 calories a DAY. I was obsessed with tracking everything that went in my mouth. In residential treatment (I’ve been 3 times) they always tried to shift our mindset away from calories, and instead just focused on nutrition. So for me, that means a meal plan based on exchanges. Like breakfast might be 2 grains, 1 fruit, 1 fat, 1-2 dairy OR meat/protein, and 16oz fluid. I’ve tried with time to shift more to “intuitive eating” (eating what I want, when I want, and stopping when I’m full). But I CAN’T start counting calories again or I get obsessive about it again.

So when I transferred to a school that had calorie counts above everything in the dining hall? Or when I go to a restaurant to see the calorie counts on the menu? I know I’m in the minority, but it makes things really, really hard for me. I know, I know, don’t focus on it. It’s hard not to when they are in my face. I’ve trained myself NOT to look at the nutrition labels on boxes (and for a long time? I’d black them out). I work really hard to not fall back into calorie counting as it is not a healthy behavior for me. And menu labeling makes an already hard thing (eating meals) so much harder.:/ So I really wish they weren’t on the menus.

This was a really good video with amazing content, here is another video I found regarding similar content, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJP4CQnddRo

This was an interesting video, thanks! I have been calorie counting for over a year (and have lost 100 pounds in 18 months!) but I’m not surprised that posting calorie counts on menus is having little to no effect on helping people lose weight. Only people who are serious and committed about losing weight can do so. I guess I’m glad to have the calorie counts, but I find more often than not they make me extremely nervous. I met a coworker for dinner one night and the place we chose had calorie counts on the menu. I had done some research and selected what I thought might be a lighter dish-but when I got there the menu said it had 1200 calories! I ended up with two sides and still spent the evening anxious about how many calories I had consumed. It is truly outrageous how many calories some restaurant meals have. 1200 calories for a single dinner! My daily limit is 1500.

Why would I create a diet plan myself when there are people who certainly do that better then me? Visit NextLevelDiet and get your personalized meal plan.

Pretty sure if you are going into a fast food place you aren’t caring about calories. You are caring about getting food for cheap.

Even if it doesn’t change my behaviour (I’m going to order my usual regardless) I still want to know what’s in it and how caloric it is. Should be transparent

I don’t care if they don’t help obesity. it’s your right to know what it is that you’re eating

that muffins false calorie count was over the amount of calories i let myself eat in a day cause of the rules my ed has made

I remember people saying menu labeling wasn’t working pretty quickly after it was implemented. Hearing some reasons why is very helpful.

I have never seen any kids puffin’ an E cig. I saw two kids the other day behind Waffle House smoking a joint, but no E Cigs. Still waiting for some kind of proof how harmful they are.

I have noticed the calorie labels on menus and it has never changed what I ordered.  Americans are increasingly gaining weight and something should be done.  It has been shown that just putting a calorie count next items does not work.  Restaurants should look into different ways of helping their customers be healthy.  Many things have been tried and a few have worked including servers asking the consumer if they would like to try a low calorie side, instead of the high calorie side people typically get.  Our government has a duty to keep America healthy.  There for sense they have seen no change sense the adding of the calorie charts they should try something else.  Another issue with the calorie label is it is not always accurate.  Scientists have taken the food from different business and checked the accuracy of the label and sadly they are not always accurate and the foods with the highest percentage of inaccuracy are the ones labels “healthy option.”    Restraints could take on the responsibility themselves and change they items on the menu. Find healthier ways to make their food and encourage people to eat more healthily.  The average BMI of Americans is ever increasing, at what point will something be done?

If it pleases the crown could we not continue with this nanny state bullshit?

I think like lots of first world problems we expect the government to do it for us, but really we all need to step up and make the change socially and culturally.

I want to lose weight but I can’t control what my parents buy

I believe there is some flaws in the studies being reference.
When doing this research did they take in to consideration people actively trying to lose weight.
I am in this catagory. Over the past year I have been dieting and have completely changed my eating habits, but I still like eating out. I have found there are many items on menus that seem healthy but are not. An example Applebee’s Shrimp and spinach salad, sounds healthy right? It has 1000 calories. I don’t eat those.
Another thing these studies missed are people who stopped eating at places like Mcdonalds. I am in this catagory as well. Once seeing the nutritional info and knowing how bad that food is I stopped eating there. McDonalds may some healthy chooses, like a fruit cup or something, but if I want a piece of fruit I can that get at a grocery store. For me I veiw going in to McDonalds and trying to get healthy food is like send a recovering alcholic into a bar for water.
You may think nutritional info on menu is not helpful, but for me having that imformation is very helpful and I’ve lost 95 lbs so far.

What about reducing portion sizes? I’ve never been to america but people who I know who have been have told me they can barely make a dent in their meals at restaurants.

I like that you’re putting in the title of the study in the graphics. Great job with the videos.

I am not sure there is an exact way to measure effectiveness in these surveys. Typically when people go to a fast food restaurant they already have in mind what they are going to order. That is not always the case at restaurants which allows the caloric count on menus to be somewhat more effective. However, at fast food I really do think for a large group of people that the calorie information does make a difference. Just because they are not persuaded to change their order that day, doesn’t mean they are not going to adjust their caloric intake for the rest of the day. Putting calorie counts on menus DOES raise awareness, and it does help a lot of people who track daily calories and adjust accordingly. As mentioned before, I do not think it is fair to measure effectiveness on whether or not they change their order when seeing the amount of caloriesbecause typically people already know what they are going to order. These studies would be more effective if they followed these individuals to see how they used the calorie information. There is no argument that within the last few years there has been an increased awareness in the fast food industry about health related issues. I think it would be unfair to say calorie counts on menus are entirely ineffective. Even reading comments on this video, that seems to be the general consensus. There are always going to be individuals who do not care, but it helps a lot of people who do take this information in mind. And it is very important to try and raise awarenessit has to start somewhere!

Lmao this was seven years ago why did YouTube recommend this to me in 2020?

Calories? Can we be concerned about what’s in the food? We have no right to know if theres GMO’s in our food and we can ask “what exactly are natural flavors and how are they derived?” to no avail. Why is that? There are many choices a consumer has to make to maintain their health. Calories seem to be a more common sense thing. Portion control and avoid processed foods. But how do you control GMOs when there is no labeling? Lets start with a bit of honesty FDA. Tell us what you are allowing in the food you’re approving and the side effects. Let us deal with the calories.

I love calorie labeling… I’ve always had trouble keeping weight on, so whenever I eat out (which is not very often) I always grab the highest caloric valued dish on the menu:)

If all else fails, I go for the most bang for the buck: the highest calorie count per dollar spent.

“It comes from the Affordable Care Act”. Therefore, it’s all bullshit.The reform of the menus will increase the prices of these foods. Mind your own business and leave the people ALONE!!

Great video as always (depressing, but still good).  I think it’s fantastic you’re putting the reference sources in the video, but I don’t think you need to read them outloud.  Might as well trim the video a bit and people can read the text you added if they want more information.

Y’all are all suckers! My ED and I are too scared to eat any food that we don’t make ourselves. I would never, ever eat fast food cause it would trigger my bulimia on top of my anorexia.

Brooo I did not know that fruits and veggies were carbs… WOW

What exactly is Custokebon Secrets? How does this thing really work? I see many people keep on speaking about this popular fat burn diet plan.

The health department in Israel are considering labelling high calorie products with red stickers such as regular coca cola. do you think it will have the same effects of the study?

But they asked me if I wanted to super-size it so I had to take it and eat it!

I hope this helps you loose weight. Being overweight or obese is wreaking havoc on your body.

This is a subject that you don’t hear enough about. How nutrition is the cause of multiple diseases, including cancer.

I think using calories as a measurement for food consumption and calorie counting is more of a problem than people first assume.

I actually put on weight when I counted calories. Mostly because I would make up for the calories I had left over by eating more than I usually would on a daily basis.

Another thing I never got is how a 400g bag of peanuts (no shells) and a 400g bag of pistachios (with shells) have the same calorie amount? The shells must make up at least 20% of the weight if not more.

Don’t calorie count as a rule for every time you eat. Just be sensible.

To be honest, I tend to care more about how healthy my food is when I’m cooking it myself; when I go to a restaurant, it’s to treat myself so then, I tend to just go for something I like regardless of its nutritional value. The fact that aspartame adds its own flavour to drinks will also affect people’s choice to drink sugary drinks over the low/no sugar alternatives pepsi max (at least here in the UK) uses a relatively flavourless sweetener, while diet coke uses aspartame I’d actually consider drinking pepsi max, since it tastes practically identical to the full calorie version, but I find the taste of diet coke to be somewhat disgusting.

Another thing that would be useful would be if nutritional information included detail on carbs, fats and sugars not only in terms of their absolute content in grams, but in terms of how many calories they contribute to the final total. Different sources of calories can contain more calories but not sate your hunger as easily (hence why a person can eat an 800g (a little under 2lb) loaf of bread and feel hungry again an hour or two later, but would be unable to finish a similar amount of calories from a steak and would have their hunger sated for longer out of the food that they were able to finish. It’s far easier to avoid snacking if you’re not hungry.