Is Drinking a Soda Worth Walking 5 Miles?

If you knew it would take walking five miles to burn off the calories in a 20-ounce bottle of soda, would you be less inclined to drink one?

A new study suggests you might.

When adolescents saw printed signs explaining how many miles they would have to walk to burn off 250 calories, which is how much a typical 20-ounce soda contains, they were more likely to buy a beverage with fewer calories, according to a news release from the John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The interesting twist is that the adolescents continued to make healthier choices weeks after the signs were removed.

A report on the findings, published in the American Journal of Public Health, adds to growing evidence that suggests showing calorie counts on products isn’t enough to steer Americans toward better eating habits. Although many chain restaurants must begin listing calorie counts on their menus early next year to comply with the Affordable Care Act, researchers say policymakers may want to rethink how that information is communicated.

“People don’t really understand what it means to say a typical soda has 250 calories,” said study leader Sara N. Bleich, in the news release. Bleich is an associate professor in the department of health policy and management at the Bloomberg School. “If you’re going to give people calorie information, there’s probably a better way to do it. What our research found is that when you explain calories in an easily understandable way such as how many miles of walking needed to burn them off, you can encourage behavior change.”

A 20-ounce bottle of soda contains about 16 teaspoons of sugar. It would also take roughly 50 minutes of running to work off that many calories, researchers said.

Source: news release John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

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