Restaurants and Calorie Labelling – Helpful or Harmful?

Yesterday it was announced that previously discussed plans of adding calorie content to restaurant menus is going to come into force.

The supposed rationale for this is that obesity rates are continuing to rise in the UK and that this may help people to make ‘healthier’ choices. There are several problems with this. Firstly, calorie labelling has been in place on most packaged/shop bought food for over 10 years and appears to have had little to no impact on the weight of the population – there is no evidence that it works as an intervention. Additionally, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses, and we know how pervasive calorie counting is in people who struggle with their relationship with food and their bodies.

The government pay lip service to Mental Health Awareness Week every year. Most of us know that this is nothing more than performative…