Calorie Counts on Menus: The effect on British teenagers By Pippa Coghill One of the major government trends of the 21st century has been to encourage British consumers to make healthy choices about what they eat and drink. Many of these efforts have been targeted at children and young people as scientists believe that starting to eat well and exercise at an early age can have life-long benefits. Since I have been in nursery, we have seen initiatives to make School meals and hospital patient food healthier, restrictions on advertisements on fast foods to children and self-policing by members of the industry, for example: supermarkets removing sweetie displays from by the tills. However, statistics show that problems with childhood obesity continue to increase; there was a rise from 9.9% in 2019-2020 to 14.4% to 2020-2021. At the same time, through social media there has been a heightened public awareness of conditions such as anorexia and bulimia where young people and adults have a difficult relationship with food. The search has continued to find effective ways to create an environment in which I and other British teenagers can make sensible and informed decisions about our diet.
manufacturers of pre-packaged foods and drinks to notify consumers of the calorie count for years now. Some use this information positively to promote their product as healthy, such as Coca Cola with Diet Coke and Muller Light yogurts. Other companies are frequently targeted in the media for providing unhealthy foods, such as MacDonalds and KFC, https://www.istockp and have introduced new hoto.com/es/search/ 2/image?alloweduse= ranges, such as chicken editorialuseonly&phr wraps, and advertised ase=menu&ageofpeop them heavily to address this le=teenager perception. However, following the example of the state of Kerala in India, who was the first to introduce a ‘fat tax’, the government, as well as other governments all over the world, has been under pressure to do more. There are also important themes in the media around the environmental impact of foods, such as carbon created by dairy cows and food miles to get a box of blueberries. Many people also worry about animal welfare. Things are further confused by the number of teenagers choosing a vegan diet which restricts choice and, despite being plant based, does not seem to necessarily lead to healthier outcomes. I have examined the question of how, in
Effective from 6 April this year, the government introduced new rules requiring large businesses to display the calorie information for food and drinks on their menus, The Calorie Labelling Out of Home Regulations. Legislation has forced 3
