It was a nice idea that compelled legislators in several states to require fast food restaurants to include information about calories and nutrition on their menus, but nice ideas don’t always translate to good practices. And this one didn’t. The Washington Post reports on research conducted at Yale University, where psychologists spent far more time than they would have liked to spend observing customers at a local McDonald’s, Burger King, Au Bon Pain and Starbucks, and tracking the percentage of people who even looked at the nutritional information provided by the restaurant. The Post reports that of 4,311 people observed, only six (or 0.1 percent) looked at the nutrition
information, whether it appeared on a
poster, in a pamphlet or on a special touch-screen computer. The researchers’ solution: make the nutritional information bigger. Geezer’s solution: make the food smaller.
Read more in the Washington Post.
Read an abstract of the study here.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Saturday, May 31, 2025
If I walk into McDonald’s because I want a cheap, fast burger; I know that I have already made a poor choice. i just might not want to know how poor a choice it is because I am hungry!
nevadder says: I agree with bb. These studies sometimes beg the obvious. People who eat in fast food joints already know they aren’t getting nutrition. That they ARE getting fats and salt and sugar. Reading a nutrition guide is just going to pile on the guilt so why read it?