Labeling food with how much exercise is needed to burn off its calorie content could help combat obesity, researchers say.
A new study out of the UK claims that adding Physical Activity Calorie Equivalent (PACE) labels could help cut about 200 calories from a person’s average daily intake.
The proposed labeling system would, for example, show that a chocolate bar containing 230 calories takes 23 minutes of running or 46 minutes of walking to burn off. A can of soda would take 26 minutes of walking or 13 minutes of running to burn off.
The study’s authors, from Loughborough University, analyzed data from 15 major studies on PACE labeling and found that, on average, people ate 65 fewer calories per meal when they knew how much physical activity it would take to compensate for eating certain items. The findings were published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
They say it puts calories into context and, in turn, either keeps people from overeating or inspires them to move more.
“We think there is a clear signal that it might be useful,” Amanda Daley, lead author of the study, told The Guardian. “We are not saying get rid of current labeling, we’d say add this to it.”
Previous studies have shown that calorie counts on restaurant and fast food menus reduce intake by 60 calories.
However, this latest study is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of advocates, who are are worried that this type of labeling could be harmful to those suffering with eating disorders.
“We know that many people with eating disorders struggle with excessive exercising,” Tom Quinn, the director of external affairs at the UK’s leading eating disorder charity, Beat, told The Independent.
“So being told exactly how much exercise it would take to burn off particular foods risks exacerbating their symptoms.”
Many on Twitter agreed and were quick to share their own history with an eating disorder, and how a system like this would have reinforced unhealthy ideas about food.
“Anorexia survivor here,” Erin Matson, the co-founder of reproductive rights organization, Reproaction, wrote on Twitter. “I promise this approach to food labeling means more people with eating disorders will die.”
Her tweet has already garnered over 14,000 likes and 3,200 retweets, with many of those who commented identifying themselves as eating disorder survivors who say that exercise labels would have made their disorder worse.
Daley told CNN that she is aware of the concern but insists that there’s no research to prove that PACE labeling leads to eating disorders.
“We’re interested in the population as a whole,” she said.
The researchers did note, however, that their sample study was small and was observed in a controlled setting, rather than a real-world setting.
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