Mandatory Calorie Labeling Works!!!

Some egghead types at Stanford studied the effects of mandatory calorie labeling at Starbucks and found that when calories were posted, Starbucks customers reduced calories by 6%. And, for all the corporate finance worry warts, there was no negative impact on Starbucks profits.

You can read it here: http://www.stanford.edu/~pleslie/calories.pdf

It only makes sense. Most people do want to watch their weight, and if we only knew how many calories were in the Petite Vanilla Scone versus the Cranberry Whole Wheat muffin, we'd make the smarter choice. Furthermore, if we saw the Cranberry Whole Wheat muffin had, say 600 calories, we'd also may be inclined to eat just half of it instead of the entire muffin.

I want this information, and it can't come to soon for me. In fact, if big chain food retailers, actually gave better information on what you they dishing out, I'd be more inclined to buy food in these places.

My other hope is that once calories are posted, retailers will reverse the trend of supersizing food. When I'm in the mood for a muffin, I really don't need or want some grotesque oversized version of a muffin that costs $4. Make it smaller, take out the high fructose corn syrup and charge me less.