Is It The Government's Job To Make You Aware of Calories?

Generally speaking, I like to know the nutritional data of the food I eat.  I'm more hung up on fat grams than I am calories, because generally I think my calories are under control for my activity level. 

With that in mind, I respond well to seeing nutrition information at fast food outlets, and I think it's good business for those outlets, especially for return business from me.  If I know I can get something I like that's relatively healthy, by sharing that data, those chains have generally won loyalty from me over time.

That's how I roll.  BUT, I'm not sure restaurants should be required to provide that data, because I think 80% of the folks ignore it anyway.  Here's a snapshot from Forbes of what's going on in West Virginia, not known as a health mecca, regarding the posting of calorie/nutrition data:

"West Virginia state Sen. Dan Foster should have known his bill to require restaurants to post calorie counts was in trouble Tuesday when he walked into a House of Delegates committee room and found lawmakers scarfing down doughnuts and breakfast sandwiches from fast-food locations.

Before Foster could defend the bill, delegates were asking questions with their mouths full of complimentary food from fast food restaurants that had been laid out on a committee table before the meeting.  Ninety minutes later, the committee voted to kill the measure, which was billed as a way to combat the state's obesity epidemic.

"It's disappointing," Foster said. "The industry certainly spread their message."

Foster, a Kanawha County Democrat and physician, had been one of the bill's most passionate supporters. He helped secure its passage in the Senate and attended the two House committee meetings on the bill, answering questions from delegates about its intent and provisions.

"They clearly don't want people to know the calories, otherwise they'd do it voluntarily," Foster said.

A call to the West Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association, which lobbies for restaurants and opposed the measure, was not immediately returned Tuesday.  In previous meetings, lobbyists from the group have said that most large chain restaurants provide nutrition information, whether on the Internet or at their physical locations.

The bill would have applied to restaurants with more than 15 locations nationally. The goal was to post calorie counts on menus or menu boards in a bid to steer West Virginians toward healthier food choices. West Virginia has the second-highest obesity rate in the country, and ranks high in linked ailments like diabetes and high blood pressure.

Members of the House committee said even the watered-down version created by the committee's amendment would hurt free enterprise.  "I worry that what's in here is blaming the cause of all obesity on restaurants," said Delegate Daryl Cowles, R-Morgan."

Would the bill have made a difference?  I doubt it.  I think the folks who are drawn to healthy lifestyles provide return business loyalty to outlets that provide the information, and the obese generally ignore calorie/fat data in the same outlets. 

If the obese ignore the data, there's really not an ROI for the burden of providing the data.

Comments

[Joe Rice]

More of a calorie counter myself--that's my steez (you already took "that's how I roll").