By: Elizabeth Ryan

Listing calorie amounts on chain restaurant menus may not have the power to change people’s eating habits, a new study found.

The Affordable Care Act, when it takes effect in 2014, will require restaurants with more than 20 locations to list calorie amounts on menus and have nutritional information available if customers request it.

But the study, published in the American Journal of Public Health last week, suggests consumers disregard calorie information and choose food for taste and convenience, even if the amounts are posted in obvious locations.

Some campus restaurants at the University of Minnesota have already implemented this rule, but it’s unclear whether students take the calorie amounts posted in places like Jamba Juice and Papa John’s into account when choosing their meals.

At the Papa John’s location in the St. Paul Student Center, calorie amounts appear on the menu board above the counter. A personal cheese or vegetable pizza has 720 calories, but the whole pizza is four servings.

Maxine Kobinski, a German language and linguistics junior and Papa John’s employee, said she thinks people might reach for a vegetable pizza in an attempt to be healthy, but the calorie amounts aren’t taken very seriously.

“I don’t think most people even look,” Kobinski said. “They already know it’s unhealthy.”

Jamba Juice employee and film studies senior Tessa Lee said some people ask specifically about the health facts of the various smoothies offered, but many end up choosing something disregarding content.

“College kids don’t even care,” Lee said. “They’ll end up doing whatever because they just want a good smoothie.”

On average, one-third of Minnesota college students eat at a restaurant at least once per week, according to Boynton Health Service’s 2012 College Student Health Survey.

Ana Bohlken, an economics transfer student, said she considers calorie amounts when she eats at restaurants and chooses her foods carefully.

“I’m paranoid about my diet,” she said. “I’ll look for other options if I can.”

But Jake Grafenstein, computer science sophomore, said his diet reflects the study’s findings.

“I don’t think counting calories is a good way to manage your diet,” he said. “It has to be a lifestyle change, and having calories listed is not the way to make better choices.”

For more expert and business opinions of the ACA’s change and the study findings, pick up Wednesday’s Minnesota Daily.