From April, restaurants, takeaways and cafés with over 250 employees must showcase their calories in the UK.
– is a risk factor for all sorts of diseases, and obesity costs the NHS billions of pounds each year. In that respect, says Herman, the measure gets one thing right: “Weight is affected by the calories you are eating, so there is sense in society focusing on calories. I like the idea that if people knew more, they would make good choices.” The problem, he continues, is that “there is no evidence that that’s true”.
On the contrary, in the US, where calories have been mandated on restaurant menus since 2018, obesity has continued to increase steadily. In New York, it seemed these menus– perhaps in a bid to get value for money, or – my personal theory – from a “fuck it” mentality. “I don’t know why. I’m not a psychologist.
The reasons for that are myriad. Obesity is a complex, systemic issue, and has more to do with economics, society and the way in which certain foods are processed than it does individual choice. “The things that will improve obesity will be lifting people up socially and economically, [and] addressing systemic problems, rather than making people feel guilty about calories,” says Warner.
They are low in filling fibre. They have pleasing textures, strong flavours, and are both speedy and cheap. “We still don’t really know what it is about ultra-processed food that generates weight gain,” investigative food journalist and author