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\n Published on
\n 08\/10\/2025 – 10:17 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n
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When restaurants are required to add calorie labels to their menus, you might think they\u2019d try to make their foods a bit healthier \u2013 but they largely don\u2019t, according to a new study from England.<\/p>\n
In 2022, England began requiring its large restaurants, pubs, cafes, and fast food spots to include calorie labels on their menus, in a bid to steer people toward healthier options.<\/p>\n
But these labels don\u2019t appear to have made much difference. On average, menus\u2019 calorie counts fell by about 2 per cent after the policy was implemented, according to the study published in the journal BMJ Public Health.<\/a><\/p>\n That translates to a \u201cmodest to limited impact on population health,\u201d concluded the researchers from universities in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n The findings deal the latest blow to the calorie labelling rules, which advocates had hailed<\/a> as a welcome step to curb obesity. Last year, another study found that people in England hardly changed<\/a> their habits after the policy was enacted, eating a comparable number of calories out.<\/p>\n Frequently eating meals out is linked to obesity, which raises the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and several cancers.<\/p>\n The researchers had suspected that calorie labels might prompt restaurants to take a \u201chealth by stealth\u201d approach by gradually reducing the amount of sugar and salt in their food without their customers noticing.<\/p>\n The new study, which included more than 31,000 menu items from 78 chains before and after the policy went into place, proved that hypothesis wrong.<\/p>\n Looking only at foods that were sold both before and after the policy went into effect, calorie counts remained fairly level. However, there was a notable reduction in calories for soft drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, and burgers.<\/p>\n There were also differences based on the type of establishment. Sports and entertainment venues saw the biggest calorie drop (13.5 per cent), followed by pubs (9 per cent) and restaurants (5 per cent).<\/p>\n That is largely because some high-calorie food and drinks were taken off their menus, and lower-calorie options were added \u2013 though not enough to make a significant difference overall.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found more evidence of menu change rather than reformulation, with items removed from menus being higher energy than continuous items,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n