The New Health Dialogue

Senior Writer Joanne Kenen wrote a piece for Miller-McCune this week on one of the lesser known provisions in the health reform law -- the requirement that chain restaurants disclose the nutritional content of their food right smack on the menu. (Section 4205 of the law, for those of you playing along at home.) Menu labeling might not be as big of a deal as, say, the individual mandate to purchase insurance or the creation of a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, but it has the potential to have a big impact on public health. As Joanne writes,

Picture yourself in a restaurant, trying to decide between two chicken entrees. Equally tempting, equally tasty, equally priced. How to decide? And if you knew that Chicken A had three times as many calories as Chicken B, would you decide differently?

Not even professional nutritionists can accurately estimate calorie counts in restaurant food -- unless the menu tells them.

Soon, menus will tell them. Under the new health reform law, all chain restaurants with more than 20 outlets will have to post calorie counts on menus. To help diners make sense of those numbers, restaurants (if they aren’t doing so already) will have to provide information on recommended daily caloric intake and make easily available more detailed nutritional information about salt, carbs, fat and other components of their food choices. Vending machines will have calorie counts, too. (While the Food and Drug Administration must write regulations by March 2011, the timetable for full implementation is not yet certain).

Public health experts hope that the information, over time, will influence how diners make choices. Their hope isn’t blind; it’s data-driven.

With the nutritional content available, all will be able to make informed food choices. Chicken A or Chicken B -- the choice is still yours -- but at least you'll know which is the healthier option. Menu labeling has the potential to change how Americans think about food. And that change couldn’t come at a better time -- America is statistically the fattest country in the world, and the burden of obesity-related chronic disease accounts for a huge portion of the U.S.’s ever growing health care spending. If trends continue, Joanne explains, we’ll be spending about $344 billion a year on obesity-related illness by the end of the decade.

Now nearly half the food money spent in the U.S. goes to restaurants and takeout, and there is ample data that food outlets and chain restaurants are a big factor in the fattening of America, according to public health experts, nutritionists and people who study chronic disease.

“More than 30 studies have shown a link between eating out and obesity,” said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. We call it “eating on the run,” but actually it’s eating in the car, at the desk, on the couch, in front of the TV.

“In and of itself, menu labeling is not going to reverse the obesity epidemic,” said former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler, whose 2009 book The End of Overeating scrutinized the fast-food industry’s impact on our bellies and our brains. “But it’s one of the most important steps the government can take.”

In the short run, you may be happier not to know that your frappachino contains 580 calories, but, ultimately, being informed and making good choices can make everyone happier and healthier (and wealthier) down the road.