Takeaway calorie labels 'not enough' to tackle obesity trends

In a new poll of online takeaway meals customers, most either failed to notice calorie information or did not change their mind on the choice of food. Josie Clarke reports

- Josie Clarke

CALORIE labels rarely influence takeaway choices and are unlikely to encourage people to eat more healthily, a new survey suggests.

A poll of 1,040 adults living in England found the majority (77%) did not notice any calorie information during their most recent online takeaway purchase, the study, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Reading and Exeter universities and published in BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health, found.

Of those who did, 71% said it did not affect their food choices.

Instead, taste and price were ranked the most important factors when deciding which takeaway to order, while healthiness and low carbon footprint were ranked as the least important.

Around 50% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that alternative interventions, such as traffic-light labels and more healthy alternatives on the menus, would encourage them to make a healthier choice.

People under the age of 35 were more than twice as likely to order takeaways weekly or more often than those who were older, the poll found.