Miles on the menu

When you look at a menu what do you look for? Do you look at the ingredients of the dish? Perhaps you look at the name given to the dish: does a “St Auburn’s Sandwich” sound more enticing to you than a “Hamburger with egg and pickles”? Or perhaps your eyes flick immediately to the price? We all have different criteria for making our picks from a menu but a new study has suggested that if a menu has certain information on it then that might help you make healthier choices and keep your weight down.

The research involved more than 800 people who divided into four groups. One group was given a menu that showed the kilojoules contained in each item on the menu. Another group was given menus with the kilojoule information and also the minutes required to walk off those kilojoules. A third group was given kilojoules and the distance required in miles (or kilometres) to walk off those kilojoules. Then a fourth group was given no nutritional information at all on their menu.

The menu include burgers, sandwiches, sides dishes, salads, dressings, desserts, and drinks. As an example, a regular burger was listed as containing 1050 kilojoules which would take 78 minutes or 4.2 kilometres (2.6 miles) to walk off.

It emerged that information about distance required to walk off energy intake was a powerful motivator.

People given no nutritional information consumed an average 4280 kilojoules. Those given only kilojoule information consumed 3890 kilojoules. The improvement when minutes required to walk off the intake was only minor leading to 3850 kilojoules being consumed. However, when people were told how far they would have to walk in order to counteract the kilojoules consumed they only consumed an average 3470 kilojoules: more than 800 kilojoules less than the control group and almost 400 kilojoules less than those given kilojoule and time information.

At some level then, and for some reason, thinking about the distance required to walk off what you are eating motivates you to eat less and that will help you keep weight off. So if you think of that slice of chocolate cake with icing as a one hour walk this afternoon, maybe you will be less inclined to go for the second slice.