Scientists propose exercise equivalents on food labels

Food and drinks should carry labels showing how long it would take to walk or run off the calories, a leading health expert suggests.

Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health in the UK, said people simply do not understand existing labels on food packets.

According to Cramer providing people with an immediate link between what they are consuming and what they would have to do physically to burn those calories, could help to tackle the issue of obesity.

She noted that the calories in a can of fizzy drink takes a person of average age and weight around 26 minutes to walk off.

“Given its simplicity, activity equivalent calorie labelling offers a recognisable reference that is accessible to everyone,” she commented.

With obesity levels continuing to rise, Cramer said that innovative initiatives at population level are now ‘desperately’ needed. To date, there has been little evidence that current food labels are managing to change consumer behaviour.

However, the introduction of ‘activity equivalent’ calorie labelling could make a difference. Packaging could include symbols that show how many minutes of several different physical activities are needed to expend the calories contained in that product.

“The objective is to prompt people to be more mindful of the energy they consume and how these calories relate to activities in their everyday lives, and to encourage them to be more physically active,” Cramer noted.

She said that putting this information on food and drink products ‘could be a logical solution to a multifaceted problem’ and she added that the benefits of being physically active ‘go far beyond maintaining a healthy weight’.

However, she pointed out that food packaging is governed by European legislation, but ‘fundamental change to packaging harbours little appetite among EU officials and food manufacturers’.

Royal Society chief executive Shirley Cramer renewed the group’s push for new labelling rules in a column in Wednesday’s British Medical Journal, published ahead of today’s UN-designated World Health Day.

Agencies/Canadajournal

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