Walk it off: Examining Consumer Perceptions of Calories and Physical Activity Equivalents
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Abstract
This research investigated the accuracy of estimations of calories and exercise when considering snack food items. Participants were significantly more accurate when asked to estimate exercise equivalents than when asked to estimate calories. Exercise estimation hadn’t been considered previously, but calorie estimation and calorie understanding had been considered in order to scrutinize calorie labels, and this same argument is used for exercise understanding. Additionally, factors such as consumers state of mind, and the type of product they are considering had an influence on the accuracy of estimation. Results indicate that consumers respond better to exercise estimations than calorie estimations. We argue that due to the confusion around calories, consumers will respond better to exercise labels because they can understand the impact of exercise on themselves. The results of two studies indicate that participants are significantly further research into applying exercise equivalent labels on food products of different types is required.