In an effort to address the increased prevalence of obesity, the UK government has introduced a number of public health strategies over the years, including changes to the way we label food. For example, him “traffic lightsThe color coding system, which was introduced in 2013, is intended to be easier for consumers to know if the food they eat is healthy for them or not.
But some critics feel that this type of labeling it may still be difficult for people to fully understand or apply in practice, and it may not necessarily lead people to make healthier food choices. Since obesity is still on the riseit is clear that current strategies are not working.
Recently, a team of researchers from Loughborough University proposed a different food labeling system known as “physical activity calorie equivalent” or Pace. This method illustrates how many minutes of exercise it takes to burn calories from certain foods and drinks. The researchers showed that this new approach was easier for participants to understand, and more likely to help people avoid high-calorie foods.
But while these types of food labels have the advantage of being easier to understand, they could also risk being misleading and may not work for everyone.
The benefits
As well as being easier to understand, Loughborough’s team also showed in a previous review that using exercise to illustrate calorie equivalents in food and drink can help people consume fewer calories – about 65 fewer calories each time they ate – compared to other methods of food labeling.
While this may not sound like much, it can help people over time. overeat less and it can also result in them eat fewer high-calorie foodslike fast food.
Other studies have shown that Pace can also help increase levels of physical activity something, which could be beneficial for those looking to be more active.
Therefore, using the exercise to illustrate calories in food can be a useful tool for consumers, as it provides understandable and identifiable information that can help them. best plan their meals and workouts – potentially lead to healthier food choices while encouraging physical activity, both of which are key to reducing or preventing obesity.
the disadvantages
While the initial findings on exercise-based food labels look promising, the research is still needed in real world settings and more longer periods of time if it will inform future public health policy.
Another clear pitfall of Pace’s approach is that generalizes calories burned. This means that the averages used on labels may not be true as to how much each person burns calories.
A variety of factors – such as the type of exercise you are doing, how you are exercising intenselyyour age and training level – all influence the number of calories you burn. The way we digest and metabolize food also highly individual.
This could mean that general food labels could be misleading. The estimated calorie burn on the package is unlikely to apply to everyone. This could lead some people to eat more or less food than they need.
Another reason the information on these labels could be misleading is that it assumes that all calories consumed are the same. For example, two foods with the same caloric content may have different levels of fiber, fat, sugar, or protein.
all these are metabolized differently, which will influence how our body uses and stores our food. low fiber, sugar-rich, energy-dense foodsfor example, have been associated with weight gain compared to healthier options that contain a similar number of calories.
Beat tags could also inadvertently encourage people to eat more poor-quality or ultra-processed foods, as they may feel like they can only exercise to burn those calories. Nevertheless, unhealthy and ultra-processed foods can still Cause damage to the body, even if the calories in them are used.
Other experts believe that this type of food labels will only have a short term effect in changing food choices. Another concern is that Pace could trigger eating disorders or excessive exercise in susceptible populations. It could also lead people to eat less to avoid the exercise needed to burn extra calories.
our view
Labeling food and drinks with the amount of exercise needed to burn them off can certainly have some benefits. However, it is clear that a one-size-fits-all approach may be too simplistic when it comes to addressing obesity in a population. This is especially true when you consider that everyone’s diet, activity levels, lifestyle habits, and even genetics are different.
As such, strategies to reduce obesity should aim to take a more individualized approach to help people increase their total daily intake. movement and activitywhile helping them assess their eating patterns and serving sizesas well as choosing better quality foods.
justin robertsAssociate Professor, Nutrition Health and Exercise, Anglia Ruskin University Y Enrique ChungProfessor of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Essex
This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license.
