‘Nutritional breakdown should take precedence over calories’
Croí, the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation, insists that the nutritional breakdown, including fats, sugars and salt, should take precedence over calories.
The Galway-based body has already developed Ireland’s first purpose-built centre for prevention, research, education, patient and family support, and rehabilitation and its board is chaired by Professor Kieran Daly, the leading cardiologist in the West.
Almost two years ago, James Reilly, the health minister, warned food businesses that if they did not voluntarily include a calorie count on their products, he would introduce legislation making it mandatory. To date, more than three quarters of fast-food outlets have put calorie menu labelling in place, but restaurants are still opposed to the idea.
The Restaurant Association of Ireland said the vast majority of its members were not supporting it. It has claimed that it would cost a restaurant about €6,500 to have the calorie count of every dish tested.
But yesterday, Croí insisted that labelling on menus should focus more on helping customers make healthier eating choices, rather than just adding up the calories.
Croí dietician, Claire Kerins said: “While calorie-counting is helpful, it can be misleading and there are barriers to its effectiveness in Ireland.
“With cardiovascular disease remaining the number one cause of death in Ireland, consumers do need to be making healthier food choices.
“However, when choosing heart-healthy foods, the nutritional breakdown — fat, sugar, salt, and fibre — is more important than the calorie content.”
She said Croí had found that many Irish adults found it difficult to read and understand calorie- counting. She pointed to research carried out by the OECD across 24 countries which showed Ireland’s literacy and numeracy skills were below average, with as many as 1 in 6 Irish adults having difficulty understanding basic written text and one in four finding it difficult to do simple maths calculations.
“As might be expected, those from the lower socio-economic groups have the lowest levels of literacy and numeracy, and unfortunately this is the group with the highest levels of obesity”, Ms Kerins said.
Now Croí is piloting a user-friendly labelling system to guide customers ‘visually’ towards choosing healthy menu options.
Its Healthy Ways Menu Awards scheme comprises five categories; blood pressure-friendly; cholesterol- friendly; diabetic-friendly; weight-friendly; and the healthiest heart award.
The programme has been trialled across 10 restaurants in the west of Ireland and reaction has been extremely positive, Croí says. The initiative has also been endorsed by the Western Branch of the Restaurants Association of Ireland.
Chairperson Fergus O’Halloran said: “Having the Healthy Ways Award icons on our menus is a way of drawing people’s attention to nutrition and to their health, as well as providing our customers who need it with the reassurance that this is food that is good for them.”
