Calorie labeling on menus may reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease in the UK, modeling study suggests – News

The current policy of requiring major UK food companies to label calories could prevent around 730 deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) between 2022 and 2041, suggesting that the policy would require all food products in the UK to If expanded to businesses, it could prevent approximately 9,200 CVD deaths. Researchers at the University of Liverpool suggest the first modeled estimates of the policy's impact over the same period. Lancet Public Health.

In April 2022, the government made calorie labeling compulsory for outdoor establishments with 250 or more employees that serve food in the UK as part of the National Obesity Strategy. Similar legislation is being considered in Wales and Scotland, and has been introduced in other countries, including the US and parts of Australia in 2019.

Previous research conducted in countries such as the UK, US and Canada suggests that calorie labeling on menus leads people to order around 47kcal fewer meals and companies to reduce the average calorie content of their meals by 15kcal. Masu. This study is the first to model the impact of calorie labeling on menus in the UK on obesity and cardiovascular disease mortality, and how this differs by socio-economic group.

“More than one in four adults in the UK are now obese and our research suggests this trend will continue to increase. Our research shows that over the next 20 years It is estimated that hundreds of cardiovascular deaths could be prevented in the UK, but the impact would be greater if the government were more ambitious in its aim to tackle Britain's obesity epidemic and extended the policy. Possible for all out-of-home food businesses.” To tell Professor Martin O'FlahertyProfessor of Epidemiology, University of Liverpool.

The authors modeled the estimated impact of mandatory calorie labeling on menus in the UK on obesity rates and cardiovascular disease deaths from 2022 to 2041 using two scenarios:

• The actual policy development plan in the UK requires only large catering companies with 250 or more employees to provide calorie information. (This type of business accounts for 18% of all stores)
• Calorie labeling on menus introduced in all UK food service businesses.

These two scenarios were compared to a baseline scenario where no policy was implemented.

Without menu calorie labeling policies, the model estimates that cardiovascular disease trends will cause approximately 830,000 deaths by 2041 (within a range of 600,000 to 1,200,000). However, it is estimated that the current policy could prevent around 730 of these deaths (within a range of 430 to 1,300), if the policy were extended to all outdoor food businesses in England. , approximately 9,200 deaths could be prevented (within one year). 5,500 to 16,000), nearly 13 times the current policy.

The baseline scenario assumed that the UK obesity rate would be 27% in 2041. The model estimates that current policy will reduce obesity prevalence by 0.31 percentage points (within a range of 0.10 to 0.35) over the next 20 years, but fully implementing the policy will reduce obesity prevalence by 2.65 percentage points. (within 1.97 percent). –3.24).

This model builds on existing evidence that policy effects are comparable across socio-economic groups and predicts inequalities in obesity prevalence and cardiovascular disease mortality across socio-economic groups that differ in calorie labeling on menus. This suggests that it should not be expanded.

“Previous research suggests that calorie labeling on menus has a dual effect: It allows customers to make informed decisions and choose lower calorie options. At the same time, businesses are incentivized to reduce the calories in their food.'' Large food businesses make up just a fraction of all food businesses in the UK, with more than half of them expected to reduce calories in their food by 2022. In its current form, this policy will only affect a small proportion of all UK out-of-home food businesses, as they already provided calorie information on their menus before the introduction of this legislation. ” To tell Dr. Zoe ColombetLecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Liverpool.

She continues:Our results show that extending calorie labeling on menus to all UK home food businesses is important in future government strategies to help people make healthier choices to tackle obesity. This suggests that it may play a role. But no single policy can solve Britain's obesity crisis. We urge the Government to continue and strengthen England's Obesity Strategy with a range of policies to reduce obesity and reduce shocking health inequalities, including calorie labeling, tackling junk food marketing and taxing the soft drinks industry. I encourage you to do that. Gap in our society. ”

The authors say there are some limitations to the study, including that data on policy-related calorie reductions in the model were taken from a US study, which may not apply to British people. I'm warning you. They also highlight that the study only models obesity in adults and cannot examine its effects on obesity in children.. Notably, modeling studies include many assumptions that can influence the findings, for example in this case the authors assumed that energy consumption does not vary with company size; We hypothesized that there would be no significant change in BMI prevalence over the next 20 years.

Additionally, there are several other policy impact areas that were not explored in this study.

“Our study only looks at the impact of policies on obesity prevalence and cardiovascular disease among adults. There may also be other benefits that are difficult to determine. Policy makers need to consider multiple factors when making decisions, including the cost-effectiveness of policies, impacts on consumers and businesses, Future research is needed on unanticipated negative effects such as disability.” To tell Professor Eric RobinsonProfessor, Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool.