How calorie counts on menus to combat obesity have failed to make any impact – and deadly condition is on the rise
GOVERNMENT rules forcing restaurants to put calorie counts on menus have failed to have any impact on Britain’s obesity timebomb, a Sun on Sunday investigation can reveal.
Our probe — which comes a year on from establishments being ordered to make the changes — finds one deadly condition linked to obesity is now on the RISE.
In Thurrock, Essex, which is the most overweight area in the country — with close to 80 per cent of the population classified as obese — businesses say they have made no impact.
In Grays, the borough’s largest town, Kentucky Fried Chicken team leader Simran Pires said: “I’ve never had a single customer change their order because of calorie intake.
“The offer for 20 hot wings for £5.99 is selling really well. I think people want it because it’s a really good deal.”
‘Most affordable option’
The Fast Food Nutrition website says the hot wings meal contains 1,520 calories — three quarters of the recommended daily calorie intake for an adult woman.
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But cheap deals are hard to resist. Fleur Jones-Mannix, 49, who manages Thurrock Unpaid Carers Service, said she often sees children eating junk food on their way to school.
She said: “I regularly see kids having Greggs sausage rolls or doughnuts for breakfast. It must be a convenience thing, but it’s going to affect their health as they get older.
“It’s a ticking time-bomb that will put more pressure on the NHS.”
But she expressed sympathy with parents who are struggling with squeezed finances.
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She added: “I don’t think the average person in Grays, or anywhere else in the country for that matter, is looking at calories on menus.
“Instead, they will be looking at the most affordable option as we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”
Nine unhealthy fast food outlets — including Burger King, Greggs, Wimpy, Subway and KFC — dominate the High Street in Grays.
Businesses with 250 or more staff in total, including cafes, restaurants and takeaways, must display the calorie totals of non-prepacked food and soft drinks on menus as well as on third-party apps and food delivery platforms.
But the latest legislation has made no difference to residents’ obesity levels or their attitude to food.
Kelly Guwazah, who works at the town’s Subway sandwich shop, said: “Calorie counts on our menus are not changing anyone’s habits in any way. People are not really bothered.
“The only customers who are taking any notice are people on a Weight Watchers programme or something like that. Then they might change to a less high-calorie sauce.
“Even when the changes came in a year ago, customers didn’t seem to care.”
Across the country, NHS data released this week reveals the scheme has not affected obesity rates.
The new figures show the number of people living with diabetes, which is often linked to obesity, has topped five million for the first time.
Obesity costs the NHS £6billion annually — and this is set to rise to more than £9.7billion by 2050.
A national survey published in December estimated that 25.9 per cent of adults in England are obese, and another 37.9 per cent overweight.
Obesity is defined as having a body mass index of 30 or above.
A BMI of 25 to 30 is classified as “overweight”.
The latest data also revealed a 41 per cent rise in the number of under-16s admitted to hospital due to obesity in the past year, with 8,771 cases in 2022, compared to 6,210 in 2021.
Henry Dimbleby, whose food crisis book Ravenous was published after he quit as the Government’s food tsar, said: “I felt slightly irritated that calorie counts on menus was the measure they brought in, when it is hard work for people and not effective.
“It would be much more effective to restrict advertising on junk food.”
And UK Hospitality, which represents more than 740 companies operating across 100,000 venues in England, Scotland and Wales, said the rule was failing to tackle obesity while business owners are forced to dish up unhealthier food to avoid costly menu changes.
Chief executive Kate Nicholls told The Sun on Sunday: “These changes are not delivering the intended public health objectives.
‘A very blunt tool’
“They create an additional cost burden for venues who have to edit and reprint menus whenever a dish is changed. The average added cost is about £20,000 per venue.
“And this means venues use the same ingredients and make fewer seasonal changes to menus with fresh ingredients.”
Restaurateur Simon Wood, a former MasterChef winner, agreed: “It is a ridiculous idea. We’d be much better off spending time, energy and money on educating people about nutrition and healthy eating.”
At the Civic Hall in Grays, a poster on the wall revealed that almost half of the 35,328 health programme visits to the Impulse leisure centre next door were for weight management.
Elaine Falkowski, 63, who runs a jewellery shop in Grays and is a Slimming World member, said: “I look at the calories on menus but I don’t think it’s made a difference to the average person round here.
“There is a lot of junk food about. You can get a good salad on a meal deal in Poundland but they don’t want that.”
Retired joiner Sam McDonald, 82, from Grays, said: “You do see a lot of overweight people and children. Parents need to take a hold of it — it’s their responsibility.”
Last night experts and restaurant owners urged the Government to ditch the calories-on-menus policy.
Jenny Idle, head of food at Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca, said: “We have not noticed any significant changes in customers’ ordering habits since calorie counts were introduced.
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“Tastes and flavour are the priority for people deciding what to eat.
“Calorie counts are a very blunt tool to measure the nutritional value of a dish and don’t give the full picture.”
U.S. is paying weighty toll
A SIMILAR calorie labelling scheme in the US has made the problem there WORSE — and the number of American states with dangerously high obesity rates has now almost DOUBLED.
It means more than 35 per cent of people living in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia are regarded as “dangerously overweight”.
Michael Bergen, from the American Obesity Association, urged our government to ditch its scheme, which is proving an expensive and deadly failure Stateside.
He said: “Obesity rates will continue to skyrocket no matter what calorie counts on food menus provide.”
“Doctor” Jon Basso, owner of Las Vegas’s infamous Heart Attack Grill — home to a 9,900-calorie Quadruple Bypass Burger — described the system as “lunacy”.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “Americans will never kowtow to government rules or advice.
“It violates free rights. It’s lunacy. British people should ignore the counts and do what they want.”
'Diners shun nanny state'
SUN Nutritionist Amanda Ursell says: “People see the calories if they really want to, and have to have that mindset in the first place to want to make use of them. But it is like a new exercise regime that people get bored of.
“Maybe also there is an element of people not wanting to live in a nanny state where they are told what to do, so perhaps they rebel against it.
“Britain has an obesity problem because of myriad reasons — constant advertising and marketing of less healthy foods, the fact that many of these foods are less expensive than healthy options, and a lack of knowledge around how to prepare them.
“Calories on menus may help steer some people in a less calorific direction but an all-round obesity policy is absolutely crucial.”