Push for restaurants to put calories on menus as a way to combat the growing obesity problem

Some counties in California and elsewhere are pushing to put calorie counts on restaurant menus in the wake of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of a statewide measure. Sensing broad popular support, public health advocates are promising another legislative push in Sacramento next year.

"This is our number one public health priority," said Amanda Purcell, policy director for the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, which is leading the push for a menu labeling bill. "We're bound and determined to get this done."

Already Santa Clara county supervisors are considering a local ordinance that would require calorie labeling on menus, which has been done by several cities across the country. Other local governments are considering similar moves, with several announcements expected soon, according to Purcell. California would have been the first state to pass such a measure.

The sudden interest in slapping calorie counts on menus so that consumers will know how much they are eating is one of many recent public policy initiatives aimed at shrinking America's expanding waistline. Since the mid-1970s, obesity in the U.S. among both adults and children has skyrocketed. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, adult obesity went from 15 percent to 33 percent of the population. Among children under 5, obesity prevalence went from 5 to 14 percent; for pre-teens it went from 7 to 19 percent, and for teenagers, it went from 5 to 17 percent.

Although the most recent statistics show that the rise in obesity has hit a plateau, staying at this level of obesity is a ticking time bomb for the health care system. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of heart disease-causing hypertension and high cholesterol, triggers Type 2 diabetes, and contributes to many forms of cancer.

Many nutritionists believe the types of meals consumed at chain restaurants are a major contributor to the obesity epidemic. Americans eat out twice as often today than they did during the 1970s, and chain restaurant portions tend to be significantly larger with higher proportions of calorie-laden fat and starchs than meals prepared at home.

Yet consumers consistently underestimate the caloric content of meals consumed in restaurants, even when they order meals from the "healthy choice" side of the menu. "There's now very, very good research that indicates that if people think that something's healthy, they underestimate the number of calories that it has by a very, very large fraction," said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University. "This is just human nature."

Legislation requiring menu labeling for calories got a boost when New York City became the nation's first city to adopt the requirement. However, a federal judge struck it down in September on technical grounds. The city is now considering a revamped proposal. Meanwhile, King County in Washington, which includes Seattle, has enacted the rule.

California would have been the first state to do so. Its bill required restaurants with 14 or more locations in the state to reveal the number of calories along side each menu item. It would also have to post the amount of saturated fats, trans fats, carbohydrates and sodium. An April Field poll showed 84 percent of Californians supported the measure.

But in his veto message, Schwarzenegger claimed "inflexible mandates applied sporadically are not an effective way to continue our progress in educating Californians about healthy eating." He also said the bill did not grant restaurants flexibility in how to communicate the information.

Noting that the governor is a restaurateur, Goldstein of the Center for Public Health Advocacy noted that his argument that the bill would be too burdensome for restaurants "is the same stale argument that the restaurant lobby trucked out when public health issues like nonsmoking restaurants were introduced." The bill, he said, "was thoughtful, well-crafted legislation that was responsive to the needs of the restaurant industry."

Merrill Goozner is a freelance journalist in Washington, D. C.

—By Merrill Goozner