Eating out choices unaffected by calorie awareness
Eating out is unlikely to be a battleground in the fight to stop Britons piling on the pounds, according to a new study by academics in Liverpool.
Informing people how many calories are in restaurant and take-away meals does not significantly change what people order, according to the study published today (November 25, 2025) in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
The findings are based on self-reported data from over 6,000 individuals before and after the introduction of the government’s new policy which made calorie labelling mandatory in food outlets with more than 250 employees.
Obesity is a major public health issue and a risk factor is the consumption of calorie-dense foods from out-of-home food outlets, which include takeaway cafes and restaurants.
However, an evaluation by the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University along with Cambridge and Exeter, found that although the policy raised public awareness of calorie intake, it did not influence their eating choices.
The study found that:
- There was no meaningful decrease in the number of calories purchased or consumed following the policy implementation.
- This was the case across participant age, gender, ethnicity or education level.
- Noticing of calorie information rose, with 31.8% of participants reporting awareness of calorie labels post-implementation, compared to 16.5% before.
- Only 22% of consumers reported using calorie information when making their food choices following the policy implementation.
- Awareness and use of calorie labelling were higher among women, older adults, and people in higher socioeconomic groups.
"We found that the introduction of mandatory calorie labelling alone was not associated with significant dietary changes in out-of-home food settings," said lead researcher Dr Megan Polden, at the University of Liverpool.
Polden and colleagues conducted two surveys before and after implementation of the law to see whether it had led to behaviour changes among consumers.
From August to December 2021, they surveyed 3,308 individuals of a range of ages, gender, ethnicities and educational levels, who had purchased food from 330 outlets, which included pubs, restaurants, cafes, fast food outlets and entertainment venues, and collected data on purchases and self-reported consumption.
The researchers repeated their survey with 3,270 individuals who purchased food from 325 of the same venues from August to December 2022.
The team points out that some data collection was conducted not long after COVID restrictions were lifted in England, which might have had an impact on how and whether people chose to eat out.
Dr Andrew Jones, a health psychologist in LJMU’s School of Psychology, who helped with study design and analysis, said: “It’s worth remembering it’s a public health level intervention, but I guess the psychology is that people are not really using the information (although reporting of noticing increases, it’s still low). The people who do notice and use the information might be those who are health conscious anyway, and less likely to be eating to excess.”
