Shifa Rahaman
May 6th, 2016

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A new study by the Danish Cancer Society has found that Danes eat less food when they know exactly how many calories they are consuming, reports Politiken.

But the idea of making calorie-labelling mandatory is leaving a sour taste in some people’s mouths.

Less is better
“When consumers are presented with the calorie content, they order, on average, a meal with 80 to 100 fewer kilocalories,” Susanne Tøttenborg, a senior consultant with the Danish Cancer Society, told Politiken.

“Half of all Danes are now overweight. Just ten extra calories less a day can mean weight loss of up to half a kilo a year. Small reductions have so much power,” she added.

Societies like the Cancer Society, the Danish Diabetes Association and the Danish Consumer Council have now called for legislation that would require fast food corporations to label their products and for more guidelines to consumers.

Hard to stomach
Not everyone is on board with the proposals, however.

The association for the hotel, restaurant and tourism industry in Denmark, Horesta, has gone on record as saying it opposes the measures.

“We believe there is a lack of evidence confirming the positive health effects of such measures and therefore reject all talk of mandatory calorie-labelling,” Horesta’s executive director, Katia K Østergaard, told Politiken.

And Dansk Folkeparti’s health spokesperson, Liselott Blixt, agrees. She believes that calorie-labelling should be left up to the companies themselves.

“It’s a good idea to calorie mark what you eat [but] I’m not so sure that this is an area to be legislated on,” Metroxpress quoted her as saying.

“I believe it is something that fast food chains are supposed to do, and there are already many who do it. But perhaps [labelling] should be made more visible and this is something we need to have a dialogue with the food industry about.”