Would these food labels put you off fatty foods?

So as we all know the government are desperately trying to clamp down on the obesity crisis, however, will this new labelling idea be a step too far, or a stroke of genius when it comes to putting us off our fatty foods?

Writing in the British Medical Journal, RSPH chief executive Shirley Cramer called for the introduction of “activity equivalent” calorie labelling, with symbols showing how many minutes of certain types of exercise are required to burn the product’s calories.

For example, a blueberry muffin is 265 calories. According to the RSPH, the average person would need to walk for 48 minutes or run for 25 minutes to burn that off. So that would be shown clearly on the muffins packaging. The aim is to remind

The aim is to remind people of how obesity can creep up if we are not burning enough calories for how much we are eating.

The labels will also be added to fizzy drinks supposedly. For example, the calories in a can of fizzy drink take a person of average age and weight about 26 minutes to walk off. So if that message was posted on the back of your can, would it make you think twice about drinking it?

Shirley Cramer says: ‘Packaging should not only provide nutritional information but should “also help people to change behaviour,There is “little evidence” that traffic light labelling actually changes behaviour.’

Here’s a chart courtesy of ITV News informing us how long it’ll take us to burn certain foods off.

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