Green Calorie Labels May Send False Impression of “Healthy”
Close your eyes and imagine you are
hungry while you wait in a grocery store checkout line. If you were then given two candy bars—one with a red calorie label and the other with a green—which would you perceive as healthier?
If you said green, you are in the majority. Of 93 students in a recent Cornell study, most perceived the green-labeled bar as more healthy than the red one, even though calorie content was the same.
“More and more, calorie labels are
popping up on the front of food packaging, including the wrappers of sugary snacks like candy bars. And currently, there’s little oversight of these labels,” said Jonathon Schuldt, PhD, assistant professor of communication and director of Cornell’s Social Cognition and Communication Lab. “Our research suggests that the color of calorie labels may have an effect on whether people perceive the food as healthy, over and above the actual nutritional information conveyed by the label, such as calorie
content.”
Sandy Todd Webster
For 22 years, Sandy Todd Webster was the chief architect of IDEA's content program - including the award-winning IDEA FITNESS JOURNAL and IDEA FOOD & NUTRITION TIPS - the industry's leading resources for fitness, wellness and nutrition professionals worldwide. She created, launched and nurtured these brands and many others during her productive and purposeful IDEA tenure. Sandy is a Rouxbe-certified professional plant-based cook and a Precision Nutrition Level 1 Coach who is pursuing a Master's degree in Sustainable Food Systems through The Culinary Institute of America (expected August 2024). She plans to combine these passions with her content expertise to continue inspiring others to make the world a more just, healthy and regenerative place.
