COUNTING CALORIES - CAVEAT-EMPTOR

Objective.-To determine the accuracy of caloric labeling of ''diet'' a nd ''health'' foods and whether the accuracy differs for certain categ ories of food suppliers. Design.-Survey; ''diet'' and ''health'' foods were analyzed via bomb calorimetry and categorized as regionally dist ributed, nationally advertised, or locally prepared. Setting.-Foods we re sampled from retail merchants throughout the borough of Manhattan, New York, NY. Sample.-A convenience sample of 40 food items including regionally distributed (n=12), nationally advertised (n=20), and local ly prepared items (n=8). Main Outcome Measures.-Number of kilocalories per item and number of kilocalories per gram. Results.-All locally pr epared foods had more actual than labeled kilocalories. The mean perce ntage of actual kilocalories greater than the labeled kilocalories (me an percentage over label) per item was 85.42% (SD=77.88%; P=.01). Regi onally distributed foods had significantly more kilocalories than were reported (P=.001 for kilocalories per item, P=.02 for kilocalories pe r gram) and mean percentage over label per item was 25.22% (SD=15.58%) and per gram was 14.97% (SD=17.95%). Nationally advertised foods did not have significantly more actual than reported kilocalories (P=.37 f or per item, P=.78 for per gram). Mean percentage over label per gram was -0.01% (SD=9.13%) and per item was 2.18% (SD=13.93%). Conclusion.- These findings suggest that food labels may be inadequate sources for caloric monitoring. Health care professionals should consider the accu racy of caloric labeling when advising patients to use food labels to help monitor their caloric intake.