New Strategies to Combat Obesity

Including calorie counts on menus in fast food restaurants does not change the eating patterns of young people in the US, researchers have discovered.  The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity and it questions the idea that calorie counts on the packaging would have an impact on the purchasing patterns of teens and parents. The most important factor that influenced them was taste.

 The new healthcare law introduced by President Barack Obama's government recommends calorie counts being included on restaurant menus. The country has been facing an increased threat of obesity that has not spared even children. The First Lady, Michelle Obama has been actively involved in planning and introducing new strategies to tackle the problem. And these involve educating consumers so that they make better choices.

Yet, researchers have discovered in popular fast food chains in New York that knowing about calorie counts did not bring about any radical differences in the calories in the food prepared or the food chosen. More stringent and arbitrary action taken in Japan and France has yielded better results.

 Nevertheless, it is a beginning in a country where scientists have predicted a lower life span, because of obesity, for the youngest generation in comparison to the life span of its parents.



Source-Medindia