Restaurant calorie counts reduce cancer deaths: study

Food & Drink

By Brooke Kato

April 19, 2023 | 6:51pm

Calorie counts have become a staple on restaurant menus — and new research shows this information has potentially saved the lives and wallets of thousands of Americans.

The Tufts University study, published Tuesday in the journal BMJ Open, found calorie counts have prevented at least 28,000 cancer cases linked to obesity and 16,700 cancer deaths over a lifetime, while saving a staggering $2.8 billion in health care and societal costs.

“It’s important for us to continue to show consumers, policymakers and industry how small changes can lead to big benefits,” lead author and Ph.D. candidate Mengxi Du said in a statement.

“Our population-level view suggests that these labels can be associated with substantial health gains and cancer-related health care cost savings that could be doubled with additional industry response, such as by replacing high-calorie menu items with lower-calorie options or reformulating recipes.”

Dining in restaurants is a favorite activity for many, especially for those in the Big Apple, but those meals — which are often loaded with saturated fats, added sugars and unwanted calories — account for one in five calories consumed by American adults, the researchers determined.

Some 40% of new cancer diagnoses are said to be obesity-related, contributing to more than 43% of direct cancer-care costs. Those numbers are slashed when calorie counts are accessible, the study authors found.

NYC began requiring chain restaurants to post calorie data on their menus in 2008. Federal rules for chain restaurants took effect in 2018.

“I think people would like to see calorie numbers when they go to a restaurant — even if menus don’t provide comprehensive nutrition information, it helps us all make quick calculations about the food we’re about to purchase,” Du said.

To build its model, the Tufts research team used cancer statistics, as well as data from a national survey of 235 million American adults over age 20 from 2015 to 2016.

Scientists observed that young adults 20 to 44 benefited the most physically and financially from the information, but study authors acknowledged the need for more outreach.

“People with higher education or income levels are aware of the information in menu labels and how to understand it, but we need to put some effort into education among underrepresented, low-income, or at-risk communities because we still see some disparities,” Du explained.

The research — which is part of Food Policy Review and Intervention Cost-Effectiveness, an initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health — coincides with the rise of cancer among the younger demographic.

The Tufts study offers evidence in support of labeling menu items with calorie information nationwide, said Fang Fang Zhang, the study’s senior author and a cancer epidemiologist.

Since the model showed the move can “reduce an individual’s chances of being obese and getting an obesity-associated cancer,” it has the opportunity to improve quality of life.

Though obesity is on the rise worldwide — and is expected to grow further — critics question whether the guilt-inducing numbers next to fan-favorite dishes is doing more harm than good.

Some argue it is further fueling diet culture and, in turn, eating disorders. Experts told Eater last year that visible calorie counts could trigger people attempting to overcome disordered eating patterns.

Registered dietitian Amanda Villescas told the outlet that people “feel pressured to choose a lower-calorie menu option” when they read the fine-print tally next to their desired meal, which can “invoke subtle or strong feelings of guilt.”

“It’s kind of sad, too, to think of the nourishment, connection, and/or joy might be lost from a person’s dining-out experience as a result of seeing what measured energy data happens to be associated with an appealing or favorite restaurant dish,” she said.