Stupid Is As Stupid Does
Happend to catch this article on AOL news: Study says food labels puzzle Americans.
The article starts off with a genius who didn't realize that the 170 calories listed on her box of spaghetti was per serving, not for the entire box. It then goes on to explain how people just don't understand these oh-so-confusing food labels. If this study has any truth to it, what it tells us is that people are either lazy, or don't know basic math. Either way, the issue is dumb people, not confusing food labels.
Let's just look at the brilliant spghetti lady. If you really think that whole box of spaghetti you just ate is only 170 calories, that would mean you could have nearly 12 boxes of spaghetti in a day as part of your 2,000 calorie diet (170 x 12 = 2040). For most people common sense would tell them that that sounds completley insane.
Understanding nutrition labels is probably the equivalant of understanding 4th or 5th grade math. It's not rocket science.
Finally, here's the money quote:
Vanderbilt's study was conducted between June 2004 and April 2005 when the low-carb craze was at its height, so many of the questions involving serving size focused on carbohydrate counts. Researchers found only about a third of the volunteers correctly estimated how many carbs were in a 20-ounce bottle of soda.
"Most people don't realize those have 2.5 servings," said Dr. Russell Rothman, lead author of the study.
Most people don't realize? Gee, it only says it right on the bottle.
The article starts off with a genius who didn't realize that the 170 calories listed on her box of spaghetti was per serving, not for the entire box. It then goes on to explain how people just don't understand these oh-so-confusing food labels. If this study has any truth to it, what it tells us is that people are either lazy, or don't know basic math. Either way, the issue is dumb people, not confusing food labels.
Let's just look at the brilliant spghetti lady. If you really think that whole box of spaghetti you just ate is only 170 calories, that would mean you could have nearly 12 boxes of spaghetti in a day as part of your 2,000 calorie diet (170 x 12 = 2040). For most people common sense would tell them that that sounds completley insane.
Understanding nutrition labels is probably the equivalant of understanding 4th or 5th grade math. It's not rocket science.
Finally, here's the money quote:
Vanderbilt's study was conducted between June 2004 and April 2005 when the low-carb craze was at its height, so many of the questions involving serving size focused on carbohydrate counts. Researchers found only about a third of the volunteers correctly estimated how many carbs were in a 20-ounce bottle of soda.
"Most people don't realize those have 2.5 servings," said Dr. Russell Rothman, lead author of the study.
Most people don't realize? Gee, it only says it right on the bottle.
posted by lonely libertarian at 5:54 PM
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