In research published in the American Journal of Public Health, just six out of 4,311 consumers were said to have paid attention to dietary information provided at restaurant chains ran by Starbucks, McDonald's, Burger King and Au Bon Pain.
However, the American Dietetic Association said it was surprised by the findings, suggesting that companies like major retail outlets were already responding to growing health awareness among general consumers by helping to educate.
Education needs
Although the study concluded that providing a menu-based information on calorie content may be one solution, Kari Gans, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the ADA, said that even at retail level, more consumer education was required.
Researchers from Yale University, Connecticut, conducted the study at restaurants in the Manhattan area, according to the report, which was not seen by FoodNavigator-USA.com in full.
Gans said that the entire food industry therefore had to accept its role in outlining healthy and balanced diets, while avoiding to bombard consumers with unquantifiable information relating to consumption.
The ADA said it was calling on companies to provide greater insight to ensure consumers were not just aware of how much energy or nutrients they may be consuming, but at what amounts they should be receiving them.
“Even with information on a package, consumers must understand why they need certain nutrients,” she stated. “Its all very well revealing how many milligrams of sodium a product may have, but how much is a healthy amount?”
To this end, the ADA said that retailers and restaurants could be more pro-active in providing information at the point of sale, or even in handouts at their premises to explain how to maintain a healthy intake of calories or nutrients.
Changing steps
Gans claimed that some advances were already being made in how businesses were promoting healthy diets to their customers though.
“There is a big trend in the United States right now for major retailers to be hiring registered dieticians to inform on policy,” she stated. “There are some steps being taken and we are definitely seeing a change.”