Food Packets Should Contain Labels With Details Regarding Exrecise Required to Burn Off Calories

About time that our food industry may food labels that mentioned the amount of exercise required to burn off the calories consumed by eating a certain product, said an expert.

Packaging should be geared towards not only providing the nutritional information but also "help people to change behavior," said Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society of Public Health.

There is "little evidence" that proves effectiveness of traffic light labeling, she added.

According to Ms. Cramer, food and drinks should come with labels that provide "activity equivalent" information about the calorie intake. It should be aimed at explaining how much time people would need to do various exercises that are "equivalent in the calories expended to those in the product", she said.

This information will empower the consumers in making healthy product choices, eat smaller portions or follow a regular exercise regimen.

" The aim is to prompt people to be more mindful of the energy they consume and how these calories relate to activities in their everyday lives, to encourage them to be more physically active," she wrote.

She also indicates a research which revealed that 44% people find current label information very confusing.

" Such information needs to be as simple as possible so that the public can easily decide what to buy and consume in the average six seconds people spend looking at food before buying," she added.

"People find symbols much easier to understand than numerical information, and activity equivalent calorie labels are easy to understand.

"For example, the calories in a can of fizzy drink take a person of average age and weight about 26 minutes to walk off."