Impact of calories on menus on people with lived experience of eating disorders

Summary

​​We are working to understand how calorie labels on menus affect young people and adults with eating disorders. In April 2022, the government introduced new rules so that large businesses (i.e., those with more than 250 employees) need to add calorie information to their menus. Some people with past and current eating disorders, and people who care for them, are worried that this change might make eating disorders worse.

This project aims to understand how people with lived experience of eating disorders perceive the calorie labelling policy currently in place, as well as other forms of nutritional labelling. To do this, we will conduct a mixed-methods online survey for people with lived experience of disordered eating within the community and ask about their views and experiences of calories on menus. We will then analyse whether there are differences in views between different groups of people, such as those with different diagnoses.​