Would You Like A 4.5 Mile Run With That Hamburger? New Research Proposes Fundamental Change In Labeling Information

US health experts and scientists are pushing for any interesting change in packaging information — the extent of exercise needed to burn off the calories of a product. If you buy a bottle of coke, for example, the table would show that the soft drink would require a 4.2 mile run or a 42 minute walk to break even. Research shows that teenagers better understand that measurement than just a calorie count

The research published in the American Journal of Public Health by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, and found that teenagers tended to chose smaller bottles when faced with the stark trade off. I am just surprised that any data would prompt a teenager to make a healthier or rational choice of any kind.

Under this approach, a double cheeseburger would state that you would need a 5.6-mile hike before the calories are burned off as opposed to a smaller hamburger requiring a walk of 2.6 miles.

It is an interesting concept though I wonder how they factor in the daily caloric burn without exercise. There is a baseline of caloric burn in just moving around and functioning on a daily basis. It is not all a positive increase from a zero baseline. The danger might consumer overload in people calculating both calories and exercise times. However, the information does give an alternative way to looking at caloric choices.