Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Doctors want calories printed with menu items in restaurants and schools

Baraka_Guru · 04-09-2009, 06:59 AM

Quote:

MDs call for calories on menus
Globe and Mail
CARLY WEEKS
April 8, 2009
Schools and chain restaurants should be required to post caloric information beside menu items to arm consumers with the knowledge needed to make healthier choices as part of the growing battle against obesity, the Ontario Medical Association proposed yesterday.

The doctors' group wants school pupils to be able to see the number of calories in a slice of pizza, a basket of French fries or a ham-and-cheese sandwich listed beside the price of the item.

It's critical to educate young people about their bodies' energy requirements and the nutritional content of food, particularly as childhood obesity reaches epidemic proportions in Canada and many other developed nations, the OMA said.

"We're really, really concerned by how children are managing their diet," said Ken Arnold, OMA president. "The fact that our kids are getting fatter, and that they're going to affect their lifespan, and they're going to affect their health by doing so."

Such a plan would require agreement from various levels of government. While the association hasn't yet discussed the idea with government officials, it hopes that school, industry and public officials will recognize the growing need to provide consumers with information about the nutritional content of restaurant food.

"It's not suggesting that people shouldn't make high-calorie choices," said Yoni Freedhoff, medical director at the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, who is part of the OMA campaign. "It's just that you need to know what you're choosing."

The debate over nutrition labelling in restaurants has been simmering for several years, with U.S. cities such as New York, Seattle, Philadelphia and Portland, and the state of California, passing legislation requiring chains to put that information on menus. In New York, officials say, the menu labelling requirements have prompted many restaurants to alter their offerings or remove certain high-calorie items.

In Britain this week, 17 restaurant chains, including Burger King, Pizza Hut and KFC, have agreed to start listing calorie content beside prices. The changes are scheduled to take effect by the end of June.

In Canada, no cities or provinces currently compel restaurants to disclose nutritional information on menus.

Liberal MP Tom Wappel tabled a private member's bill in 2006 to require it, but the bill died in Parliament.

Now, the medical association is launching a campaign to educate the public and win support for the idea of a mandatory display of caloric information on restaurant menus.

The group is singling out chain restaurants, rather than independents, because they typically operate on a large scale and could more readily afford to make such a transition, in the doctors' view.

The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, an industry group that represents restaurants, cafeterias, bars and other institutions, has long argued that it's unnecessary to force the industry to divulge nutritional information. Itdeveloped its own information program to providecaloric, fat and other nutritional facts.

In a statement, the CRFA said 33 food-service companies, representing more than 60 per cent of chain restaurant revenues in Canada, have signed on to the program and that "many chain restaurants provide detailed nutrition information for standard menu items in the form of in-store posters and brochures as well as website calculators."

It also noted that providing accurate, up-to-date nutrition information can pose a challenge for restaurants because many may switch ingredients or change suppliers, which can affect an item's content.

But Dr. Freedhoff said leaving it up to restaurants to post nutrition content voluntarily means the information is often displayed in small print on posters, or on the underside of tray liners.

Unless the information is clearly visible to the consumer at the cash register - preferably beside the price - few will see it, he said.

A study released last month found only a minuscule portion of consumers sought nutritional information from wall posters, nutritional brochures or other on-site sources at major fast food chains in the U.S.

Professors in Yale University's psychology department observed more than 4,300 consumers at eight locations of four major restaurant chains, including Starbucks and McDonald's. They found that only six people - or 0.1 per cent - of patrons looked at the nutritional information.

"This finding is worrisome, because people tend to underestimate the caloric content of fast-food meals, which are typically higher in calories than are meals made at home," the study said. "Our results indicate that if on-premises nutrition information is to affect customers' purchasing behaviours, it must be displayed in a highly visible place such as on a menu board."

globeandmail.com: MDs call for calories on menus

Okay, so a group of doctors in Ontario want to have restaurants and school cafeterias list the caloric value of foods beside the prices on menus.

Apparently, very few people read the nutritional information on food in restaurants (not surprising), so the claim is that people tend to underestimate the value of calories in what they eat.

What impact do you think this will have on restaurant patrons and their food choices?
How will this affect restaurants in the decisions they make with new and existing products?

I think this is a great idea, and it is one that will benefit me. I'll likely take into effect the caloric values when making my decisions. "Woah, that 'appetizer' is 800 calores? WTF?!" I think this information should be more visible, especially when you consider the problem we have as a society when it comes to nutrition and weight problems. A bit of information isn't a magic bullet, but it will certainly help.

I'm sure it won't have a profound effect on the majority, but for many people, this change will be a good one. Making important information highly visible will help people make more conscious choices. It should be more than pretty pictures, good smells, and competitive prices. It should also be about what you're really getting...namely the number of calories.

I think this will also have an impact on certain restaurants. They know people are becoming increasingly health conscious. This idea might lead them to make smaller portions or to put in fewer high-calorie ingredients in certain items. In other cases, it won't matter: french fries are french fries, after all. But in the grand scope of things, we might see a shift in how we are served food outside the home.

This isn't a new idea, as it has already happened in some areas of the U.K. and the U.S. But I'd like to see more of this.

What are your thoughts?