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Nutrition Labels Only Slightly Effective in Cutting Calories

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Jan 23, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 23, 2025 -- It's easy these days to see how many calories a cheeseburger will set you back, or how many added sugars are in a jar of pasta sauce.

But nutrition labels haven't been as helpful at helping people cut calories as might have been hoped, according to a new evidence review published Jan. 17 in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

Labels slapped on offerings at supermarkets and restaurants lead to only a small reduction in the calories people select and purchase, according to findings gathered from 25 prior studies.

The average calorie reduction was just under 2%, or about 11 calories in a 600-calorie meal – the equivalent of around two almonds, researchers said.

“Our review suggests that calorie labeling leads to a modest reduction in the calories people purchase and consume,” senior investigator Gareth Hollands, a principal research fellow with the University College London Social Research Institute, said in a news release.

“This may have some impact on health at the population level, but calorie labeling is certainly no silver bullet,” Hollands added.

The review compiled evidence from studies involving more than 10,000 people living in high-income countries like the U.S., Canada, France and the U.K., researchers said.

The studies all focused on the impact of nutrition labeling on food selection and consumption, and 16 of the 25 were conducted in real-world settings like supermarkets, cafeterias and restaurants, researchers said.

A previous review from 2018 had been inconclusive, Hollands said. That review had reported a potentially larger effect, but was based on limited data available at the time.

“This update has reduced that uncertainty, and we can now say with confidence that there is very likely a real, albeit modest, effect,” Hollands said.

The U.S. Nutrition Facts label first appeared in 1994 and has been revised and updated a couple of times since. The last update in 2020 included a new line for added sugars, to inform people of the extra sugar added to some foods during processing.

Likewise, restaurant menus have been required to carry calorie counts on offerings since 2018.

“This review strengthens the evidence that calorie labeling can lead to small but consistent reductions in calorie selection,” lead researcher Natasha Clarke, a lecturer in psychology at Bath Spa University in the U.K., said in a news release.

“While the overall impact on individual meals or food purchases may be modest, the evidence is robust,” Clarke continued. “The cumulative effect at a population level could make a meaningful contribution to public health, especially as calorie labeling becomes more widespread.”

To explain how small daily changes in calorie consumption can have a long-term effect on weight, Hollands cited a previous report that 90% of people in England between the ages of 20 and 40 gained about 20 pounds over the course of a decade.

Cutting 24 calories a day would prevent that increase, Holland told STAT.

The new review couldn’t address one concern about nutrition labels – how they affect people with an eating disorder – because not enough research has been done on potential harms from the labels, the review team said.

“Calorie labeling to reduce the calories that people consume remains somewhat contentious, both in terms of whether it has any effect, and whether potential benefits outweigh potential risks or harms,” Hollands said.

“We can now say with considerable confidence that it does have a small but potentially meaningful effect on people’s food choices,” Hollands concluded. “However, we should not expect miracles, and any implementation of calorie labeling must balance the many potential positive and negative impacts of such policies.”

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted January 2025

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