Adding printed labels to junk food and fizzy drinks detailing how much exercise it would require to burn them off could cut consumption.
This is the conclusion of a new study by researchers at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, which tried adding different messages to soda beverages in order to see how groups of purchasers would respond.
It was found that when traditional nutritional information including calories counts was printed, people bought the drinks as normal.
However, when the peelable labels pointed out that it would take 50 minutes of exercise to burn off the calories contained within, consumption went down.
Lead author Dr Sara Bleich said: "People too often underestimate how many calories are in fizzy drinks and junk food and if this was more obvious, people would be less likely to consume these products."
In October, research by Fourth Hospitality found that 67 per cent of people would like better information about things like calories in the foods they buy, while 62 per cent admitted they have no idea about calorie values when eating out.
Denny Bros Ltd, 19 December 2011
