• Charoula K Nikolaou, Michael E J Lean, and Catherine R Hankey.
• Human Nutrition Section, School of Medicine, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. Electronic address: charoulanikolaou@yahoo.co.uk.
• Prev Med. 2014 Oct 1; 67: 160-5.

ObjectiveObesity is the biggest challenge facing preventive medicine. Calorie-labelling has been suggested as a way of changing the architecture of an 'obesogenic' environment without limiting consumer choice. This study examined the effect of calorie-labelling on sales of food items at catering outlets on a city-centre university campus.MethodsSales data were collected for two consecutive months in 2013 on three UK university sites (two with calorie-labelling during second month, one control) and analysed with chi-square 'Goodness-of-Fit' tests. A questionnaire seeking consumers' views and use of the calorie-labelling was administered and analysed at group-level with chi-square tests.ResultsIn intervention vs control sites, total sales of all labelled items fell significantly (-17% vs -2%, p<0.001) for the month with calorie-labelling. Calorie-labelling was associated with substantially reduced sales of high-calorie labelled items, without any compensatory changes in unlabelled alternative items. Among 1166 student- and 646 staff-respondents, 56% reported using the calorie-labels, 97% of them to make lower-calorie choices. More females (63%) than males (40%) reported being influenced by calorie-labels when choosing foods (p=0.01).ConclusionsThis study provides evidence, beyond that from single-meal exposures, for the acceptability of meal calorie-labelling and its potential as an effective low-cost anti-obesity measure.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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