Labeling food with the physical activity required to burn off calories

A trial at English secondary schools of alternative food labeling—which displayed the number of minutes of physical activity needed to burn off calories—reduced the purchase of sugary foods by a small amount, new research has found.

The study was led by Dr. Natalia Iris and Professor Amanda Daley, who are part of Loughborough University’s Center for Lifestyle Medicine and Behavior (CLiMB). The paper, “Physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) food labeling on discretionary foods in secondary school canteens in England: an efficacy cluster randomised controlled trial,” has been published in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity.

It analyzed almost 100,000 purchases of cakes and biscuits from 11 school canteens over a six-week period. Six schools used physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) food labeling on their sweet treats, and five schools continued with their usual practice.

PACE food labeling aims to show how many minutes or miles of physical activity are needed to burn off the calories in a particular food or drink. For example, eating 230 calories in a small bar of chocolate would require about 46 minutes of walking or 23 minutes of running to burn off these calories.

Analysis of school canteen data found a reduction in cake and biscuit purchases in intervention schools versus comparators of approximately 11 items per week per 100 students.

Speaking about the findings, Dr. Natalia Iris said, “While PACE labeling appeared to reduce the purchase of these sweet treats by only a small amount, the study demonstrates that this type of food labeling may be a useful approach to reducing the consumption of sugary foods by young people in the school environment.

“The implementation of PACE labeling appeared feasible for some schools, but others had concerns about the adverse effects this type of labeling may have on the well-being of students. It is important to consider this when looking at the wider introduction of PACE labeling.”

Professor Amanda Daley added, “Evidence shows that even a relatively small reduction in daily calorie intake (100 calories) combined with a sustained increase in physical activity is likely to be good for health and could help curb obesity at the population level. PACE labeling may help people, of all ages, achieve this.”