CHICAGO - According to a report released earlier this week, requiring QSRs in New York City to post calorie counts on menus did not significantly alter the number of calories children and teens consumed, Reuters reports.

While the study found that children and adolescents noticed the calorie counts, the data did little to affect their ordering, with taste cited as the most important factor in their menu selections.

Published online in the International Journal of Obesity, the study directly challenged the notion that calorie labeling affects purchasing behavior of children or those purchasing food for children.

"It means we're going to have to rethink what other sorts of interventions might be more effective," said Dr. Brian Elbel of NYU, who led the study.

New York was the first U.S. city to require QSRs to list the calories of their foods on menus in 2008, an effort toward fighting childhood obesity.

The study sought to determine the effectiveness of the law at prompting consumers to rethink ordering high-calorie foods.

The researchers surveyed 427 parents and teenagers at QSRs both before and after the labeling began in July 2008, focusing on McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and KFC in New York City and compared their purchases to those in restaurants in nearby Newark, New Jersey, which did not have mandatory labeling.

The researchers found that after labeling began, 57 percent of New York teens said they noticed the calorie information with only nine percent saying that the information influenced their ordering.

"What we didn't see is any change in the number of calories before and after labeling started," Elbel said. "We also didn't see any changes in the number of calories for choices parents were making for their kids."