Organic labels on snacks lead to overeating

A new study has concluded that organic labels really do make people think their snack has a lot fewer calories than it really does, which ultimately leads to overeating.

Jenny Wan-Chen Lee, a graduate student with the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, said the study showed that people who ate organic cookies labelled as 'organic' believed that their snack contained 40 percent fewer calories than the same cookies that had no label.

Co-author, Brian Wansink, Cornell professor and author of the book, Marketing Nutrition, said: "An organic label gives a food a 'health halo.'"

"It's the same basic reason people tend to overeat any snack food that's labeled as healthy or low fat. They underestimate the calories and over-reward themselves by eating more," he added.

These findings were presented at this week's Experimental Biology conference in Anaheim, Calif.