Health halo effects may explain why people are more likely to order dessert and more sugary drinks with a quote-unquote Healthier sub at Subway versus a Big Mac at McDonald's Even though the sub used in the study it filled with ham, salami and pepperoni had 50% more calories to begin with Even just a reference to healthy foods can do it show people a picture of a Big Mac and people estimated has 646 calories, okay, then just add the words For your health eat at least five fruits and vegetables per day and all of a sudden the same burger in the same ad We start to have only 503 calories merely offering or even promoting salads and fruit can bring McDonald's accolades and bolster consumer loyalty without ironically helping their health In our next toy we look at how mandating healthy eating messaging on fast food ads ironically only makes things worse Denmark ended up canceling its saturated fat tax on meat and dairy and shelving their sugar tax Because the farming and food company interests claimed too many jobs would be lost if people ate healthier Apparently a healthy economy was more important than a healthy citizenry Ironically the fact tax was abolished just when evidence of the effects started to appear The intake of saturated fat among Danish customers from some meat and dairy products was declining But not from sour cream the public ended up eating so much more low fat sour cream Outwain the smaller reduction in high-fat sour cream So you always have to think about the unintended consequences If incentives have people swapping out sugary cookies for salty chips for example It might not be doing the public's health many favors One field study of a tax on soda found that you can drop soft drink purchases, but households may just end up buying more beer Another study found that calorie labeling of sugary drinks ironically led to an increase in consumption Presumed to be because the consumers may have previously overestimated their calorie content Stark warnings about the risks of unintended negative consequences of obesity targeted health policies are trumpeted by those with Ties to the likes of Coca-Cola craft Pepsi-Co Wrigley red-boldy world sugar research organization national cattleman's association Mars and Corn syrup giant archer Daniels Midland and that's just a single scientist The concern about unintended consequences shouldn't paralyze our efforts But should serve up a healthy dose of humility when considering policy proposals How about releasing a video game for kids that promotes fruit? Sounds good, right?