A voluntary effort by the world's largest food and
beverage companies to remove billions of calories from the products they
sell in the United States to help combat the nation's obesity epidemic
has far exceeded its five-year goal, according to a recent evaluation by
researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill.
Sixteen firms
In May 2010, 16 of the nation's biggest food and beverage companies, including the Coca-Cola Company and Kraft Foods, pledged to remove a trillion calories from the US marketplace by 2012 and 1.5 trillion by 2015, compared with a 2007 baseline. And as of 2012, they sold 6.4 trillion fewer calories.
Other companies that made the calorie-reduction pledge were Bumble Bee Foods; Campbell Soup Co; ConAgra Foods; General Mills; Hillshire Brands; Kellogg Co; Mars; McCormick & Company; Nestlé USA; Post Foods; the Hershey Company, J M Smucker and Unilever.
In 2007, the 16 companies sold 60.4 trillion calories, which was 36 per cent of the total calories in the packaged foods and beverages (including cereals, chips, canned soup, juices, sodas and candy) sold that year. In 2012, they sold 54 trillion calories.
They are part of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a chief executive-led organisation formed in 2009 which is aimed at reducing obesity.
The 6.4 trillion fewer calories works out to 78 fewer calories per person per day, if spread equally across the 2012 population of the United States. By comparison, Americans consume an average of 300 more calories a day now than they did in 1985, and 600 more than in they did 1970, according to a 2012 report by non-profit policy group Trust for America's Health.
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 35.7 per cent of US adults have a body mass index (BMI) above 30, and are classified as obese. So are 14.9 per cent of children, which is down from 15.2 per cent in 2003.
It is also not clear whether the reduction could move the needle for more than two-thirds of Americans, who are either overweight or obese.
“Reports like this, and the fact that they have exceeded their commitment by fourfold, really shows that you can make progress in giving American families more healthy options,” said Larry Soler, president, Partnership for a Healthier America (a non-profit chaired by US First Lady Michelle Obama).
The group was formed in 2010 to work with the private sector on anti-obesity strategies, but at the time, critics said it relied too heavily on the goodwill of the industry, and could not replace the role of tighter regulation on how foods are manufactured and marketed.
“Such voluntary efforts by industry are not a magic bullet,” Jeff Levi, executive director, Trust for America's Health, stated, adding that particularly with kids, there is a role for regulation in reducing the demand for unhealthy, high-calorie fare.
Calorie reduction method
It is not clear yet how the companies accomplished the dramatic calorie reduction, said UNC’s public health researcher Barry Popkin, who led the analysis (which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest public health philanthropy). Some of the decline may be attributable to the recession, as financially-strapped families cut back on junk food.
When the pledge was announced, companies said they would substitute lower-calorie products, re-engineer existing products to cut their calories, and reduce portion sizes, as was done in the case of 100-calorie packs of cookies and other snacks.
Popkin and his team found that beverage companies (including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo) were producing more drinks that contained both sugar and artificial sweeteners and, therefore, had fewer calories than sugar-only drinks. “They were also shifting advertising to lower-calorie beverages,” he said.
The biggest reduction in calories sold was to households with young children. “It seems to be parents who are driving the calorie reductions,” Popkin said.
To calculate the calories sold, the UNC researchers combined data on foods and beverages sold (from grocery-store scanners and other sources) with nutritional information for the products.
Sixteen firms
In May 2010, 16 of the nation's biggest food and beverage companies, including the Coca-Cola Company and Kraft Foods, pledged to remove a trillion calories from the US marketplace by 2012 and 1.5 trillion by 2015, compared with a 2007 baseline. And as of 2012, they sold 6.4 trillion fewer calories.
Other companies that made the calorie-reduction pledge were Bumble Bee Foods; Campbell Soup Co; ConAgra Foods; General Mills; Hillshire Brands; Kellogg Co; Mars; McCormick & Company; Nestlé USA; Post Foods; the Hershey Company, J M Smucker and Unilever.
In 2007, the 16 companies sold 60.4 trillion calories, which was 36 per cent of the total calories in the packaged foods and beverages (including cereals, chips, canned soup, juices, sodas and candy) sold that year. In 2012, they sold 54 trillion calories.
They are part of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a chief executive-led organisation formed in 2009 which is aimed at reducing obesity.
The 6.4 trillion fewer calories works out to 78 fewer calories per person per day, if spread equally across the 2012 population of the United States. By comparison, Americans consume an average of 300 more calories a day now than they did in 1985, and 600 more than in they did 1970, according to a 2012 report by non-profit policy group Trust for America's Health.
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 35.7 per cent of US adults have a body mass index (BMI) above 30, and are classified as obese. So are 14.9 per cent of children, which is down from 15.2 per cent in 2003.
It is also not clear whether the reduction could move the needle for more than two-thirds of Americans, who are either overweight or obese.
“Reports like this, and the fact that they have exceeded their commitment by fourfold, really shows that you can make progress in giving American families more healthy options,” said Larry Soler, president, Partnership for a Healthier America (a non-profit chaired by US First Lady Michelle Obama).
The group was formed in 2010 to work with the private sector on anti-obesity strategies, but at the time, critics said it relied too heavily on the goodwill of the industry, and could not replace the role of tighter regulation on how foods are manufactured and marketed.
“Such voluntary efforts by industry are not a magic bullet,” Jeff Levi, executive director, Trust for America's Health, stated, adding that particularly with kids, there is a role for regulation in reducing the demand for unhealthy, high-calorie fare.
Calorie reduction method
It is not clear yet how the companies accomplished the dramatic calorie reduction, said UNC’s public health researcher Barry Popkin, who led the analysis (which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest public health philanthropy). Some of the decline may be attributable to the recession, as financially-strapped families cut back on junk food.
When the pledge was announced, companies said they would substitute lower-calorie products, re-engineer existing products to cut their calories, and reduce portion sizes, as was done in the case of 100-calorie packs of cookies and other snacks.
Popkin and his team found that beverage companies (including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo) were producing more drinks that contained both sugar and artificial sweeteners and, therefore, had fewer calories than sugar-only drinks. “They were also shifting advertising to lower-calorie beverages,” he said.
The biggest reduction in calories sold was to households with young children. “It seems to be parents who are driving the calorie reductions,” Popkin said.
To calculate the calories sold, the UNC researchers combined data on foods and beverages sold (from grocery-store scanners and other sources) with nutritional information for the products.
