By labelling food with the required exercise to burn off the calories it is hoped it will encourage healthier food choices and reduced disease. Obesity is a ‘key contributor’ to chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
The research aimed to investigate the effects of Pace on the selection, purchase and consumption of food and drink. By presenting participants with Pace food labelling it resulted in the consumption of ‘significantly fewer’ calories.
In the study a milk chocolate bar contained 229 calories, which meant consumers would need to walk for 42 minutes to burn off the calories. A soft fizzy drink contained 138 calories and the Pace food labelling informed participants they needed to walk for 26 minutes.
The researchers concluded: “Pace food labelling may reduce the number calories selected from menus and decrease the number of calories/grams of food consumed by the public, compared with other types of food labelling/no labelling.
“The findings emphasise the potential of easily understood food labels to reduce the calorie intake of the population by facilitating increased selection of lower calorie foods and decreased selection of higher calorie ones.”