Calorie information on menu's mean kids eat less fattening meals: Study

In the struggle against obesity, a new study suggests that parents are more likely to order a menu option with fewer calories for their children if the menu includes the calorie content.

The researchers found that parents mock-ordered slightly less food, calorie-wise, when their menus included the extra information. With no calorie numbers, they ordered an average of 1,294 calories worth of food for their children. However, when calorie or exercise information was included, parents ordered 1,060 to 1,099 calories per meal, according to the study. Meanwhile, about 38 percent of parents said they'd be "very likely" to encourage their children to exercise if they saw labels with information about minutes or miles of activity required to burn off calories.

"Our research so far suggests that we may be on to something," said study lead author Dr. Anthony Viera, director of health care and prevention at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. New calorie labels "may help adults make meal choices with fewer calories, and the effect may transfer from parent to child."

Findings from the study were published online Jan. 26 and in the February print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers surveyed 1,000 parents of children aged 2 to 17 years. The average age of the children was about 10 years. The parents were asked to look at mock menus and make choices about food they would order for their kids.

"There are many factors that come into play such as cost, time pressure, marketing and the child's preferences," Viera said. The hope is that labels with extra information will "provide a simple-to-understand snapshot of calorie content that will make it easier for parents to make healthier choices for themselves and their children in the context of all of these competing factors."