When confronted with calories counts and daily recommendations, people still ordered that 550 calorie McDonald's Big Mac.
A new study found people would order what they like at fast food joints, even when the nutrition content was right in front of their noses, NBC reported
New York City, Philadelphia, California, Oregon and King County in Washington state all have menu-labeling laws, but the initiative doesn't seem to be working.
"Putting calorie labels on menus really has little or no effect on people's ordering behaviors at all," Julie Downs, lead author of the study, said.
The researchers observed 1,121 adults between the ages of 18 and 89. One group received a sheet of paper displaying recommended calorie intake for a single meal (800 calories for men and 650 for women). The other group was given information on suggested calorie consumption for an entire day. The final group was not given any instructions.
Regardless of the information they were given, one third of the participants ordered over 1,000 calories worth of food, way more than the recommended intake.
The study also found overweight people and people at a healthy weight made similar meal choices when at the fast food restaurants.
The researchers think some health-minded people still use the calorie displays.
"I think a lot of that comes down to, who is using the information? It's probably people who are already ordering pretty well, pretty healthfully," Downs said.
Researchers are not optimistic that menu labeling will make an impact on the growing obesity problem in America.
"The results provide little hope that calorie recommendations will salvage the apparent weak or nonexistent effect of menu labeling," the study authors said, according to the LA Times.
The Big Mac is not the highest calorie burger on the McDoanld's menu, that title goes to the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese at 750 calories. The most calorie-rich item is not a burger at all, the Big Breakfast with Large Hotcakes weighs in at 1,150 calories.
