If food labels told you how many burpees you had to do or how many miles you had to run in order to burn the calories of what you're about to put in your mouth, it may get you to think twice before munching on another snack, or gulping down another can of soda.

In fact, for every 20 ounce can of soda pop that you chug, you'd have to walk 10,000 steps to burn off the 250 calories of that drink. That's about five miles for an average person with a stride of 2.5 feet or 50 minutes of running. Unfortunately, most people with sedentary jobs and lives only take an average of 1,000 steps a day.

All those extra unburned calories from that 20-ounce can, along with all the unburned calories from everything else you eat - they get converted into fat in the body.

According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, the awareness of exactly how much exercise would be required for a person to burn off the calories in their food and drinks was enough to convince teenagers to opt for healthier drinks, or at least drinks with less calories than the average soda.

The researchers from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health selected a low-income store in a predominantly black neighborhood to conduct their study. The demographic was chosen because of the high risk of obesity among black teens.

They placed eye-catching signs in the drinks aisle, informing shoppers that each can of soda or fruit juice contains 16 teaspoons of sugar and they would need to run or walk a certain amount in order to burn the calories in that drink.

A significant percentage of teens opted to buy smaller drinks when they realized how much exercise would be required to burn the calories.

In an interview about the study, lead researcher, Sara Bleich predicted that when adults are presented the information about calories and energy burning in an easy way, they would opt for healthier choices as well.

"What our research found is that when you explain calories in an easily understandable way such as how many miles of walking needed to burn them off, you can encourage behavior change," she said.

The study, which was published online on Oct. 16, also revealed that the healthier choices of beverage persisted even after the signs were removed from the shop.

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