Calorie labels on takeout widely ignored by hungry customers

By Stephen Beech

Calorie labeling is "widely unnoticed" and influences only a "minority" of choices when ordering a takeout, reveals new research.

Taste and price are the key factors when ordering food online rather than the calorie content, according to the findings.

People under 35 are more than twice as likely to order a takeout online at least once a week as older age groups, suggests the research.

And the clinically obese are twice as likely to eat weekly takeout as those of a healthy weight, according to the findings published in the journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention and Health.

The limited impact of now compulsory calorie labeling highlighted by the research calls for extra measures to promote better food choices, say health experts.

Takeout is usually lower in nutritional content than home-cooked meals.

And regularly indulging in a kebab, curry, or other takeout has been previously linked to a less healthy diet, overall, and higher energy intake.

But researchers said it was not clear which factors might be driving such purchases and how interventions - such as calorie labelling, which was made compulsory in England in 2022 for food businesses with more than 250 employees - might help to promote healthier food choices.

To find out, they drew on the responses of 1,040 adult takeout consumers in England to a survey assessing their knowledge and awareness of calorie labelling legislation and the principal factors driving their food choices.

The survey covered factors including knowledge of recommended calorie content of a meal; awareness of calorie labeling; ranking of drivers of takeout and home-cooked meal choices by healthiness, price, taste, preparation/delivery time, portion size, and low carbon footprint.

It also ranked additional strategies such as higher prices for less healthy items, smaller portions, exercise-based calorie labels, traffic light labels, and provision of healthier alternatives.

Around two-thirds of the respondents were women (68%); over half were aged between 35 and 55; while more than half were either overweight (35%) or clinically obese (28%).

Just over one in four participants (27%) reported ordering takeout at least once a week, while a further 41% had takeout every two to four weeks, and just under a third (32%) less than once a month.

Participants tended to overestimate the recommended calorie content of a meal.

The average estimate was 747 kcal - about 25% higher than the recommended 600 kcal - which just 15% correctly identified.

Women were twice as likely to identify the correct, or lower than recommended, calorie content of a meal as men.

Almost two-thirds (63%) of the respondents were aware of the calorie labelling legislation, although that was more likely among the highest socio-economic group.

But more than three-quarters of the participants (77%) didn’t notice any calorie information during their most recent online takeout transaction.

Of those who did, just over seven in 10 (71%) said it didn’t affect their food choices, while almost two-thirds (63%) reported no impact on their drink choices.

Study author Dr. Laura Cornelsen said: "Taste was the most important consideration for takeaways, followed by price, delivery time, and portion size.

"For home-cooked meals, taste and price were also the principal drivers, followed by portion size, preparation time, and convenience.

"Healthiness was a more important consideration for home-cooked meals: more than half (56%) of the respondents scored this as (very) important compared with 22% for takeaways.

"Low carbon footprint was the least relevant driver for both meal types."

She said women were 51% more likely than men to consider healthiness (very) important for a takeout, while those aged 65 or older were four times as likely to do so.

Around half of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that traffic light labels and healthy alternatives would encourage healthier choices, while just under a third (30%) backed higher prices, exercise-based calorie labels, and smaller portions.

Dr. Cornelsen, Associate Professor in Public Health Economics at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “Our findings highlight the complexity of efforts to improve the healthiness of takeaway foods.

"Calorie labelling was widely unnoticed and influenced only a minority of choices.”

She added: “More real-world evaluations are needed from different contexts and populations to understand motivations of takeaway consumption and the effectiveness of calorie labels in this setting, including in conjunction with other interventions.

“While calorie labelling may affect only a minority, it can be part of a broader strategy to address obesity and poor diets.

"However, its potential to improve diets without exacerbating existing health inequities remains uncertain."