Reducing excess consumption of food and drink is core to tackling the high prevalence of overweight and obesity in the UK and elsewhere. Here we provide the results of a pilot trial estimating the potential impact of calorie labelling on energy purchased across six worksite cafeterias.
Post-intervention feedback amongst cafeteria patrons and worksite managers and caterers suggested high levels of acceptability. Several barriers to intervention implementation were identified. The predicted effect of labelling to reduce energy purchased was only evident at one out of six sites studied. Before progressing to a full trial, we propose that the calorie labelling intervention needs to be optimised, and a number of operational issues resolved.
Impact of calorie labelling in worksite cafeterias: a stepped wedge randomised controlled pilot trial. Vasiljevic M, Cartwright E, Pilling M, Lee M-M, Bignardi G, Pechey R, Hollands GJ, Jebb SA, Marteau TM, 2018
