Will Knowing The Calorie Counts When You Eat Out Drive You Toward Lighter Fare?

 

Rita Rubin , CONTRIBUTOR

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Come next May 7, you’ll no longer be able to live in denial when you dine out.

That’s when restaurants and other places selling restaurant-type foods that are part of a chain of 20 or more locations will have to post calorie and nutrition information in plain view of customers. How much of an impact this move will have on a country in which two-thirds of adults are either overweight or obese remains to be seen.

The menu labeling mandate, postponed twice from its original date of implementation, Dec. 1, 2015, is part of the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” signed into law in 2010.

Not surprisingly, the proprietors of eating and drinking establishments have peppered the Food and Drug Administration with questions about what they need to do to comply with the new regulation, so the agency this week issued a draft guidance for them.

In this Aug. 24, 2017 photo, a KFC menu displays meal selections with calorie counts, in New York. New York City is one of the jurisdictions that already requires that eateries post calorie counts, a requirement set to go nationwide next May . (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Here are some of the questions and answers in the draft guidance:

Must calorie counts be posted next to each item on a buffet?

That’s one way to do it, but restaurants also could satisfy the regulation by placing a sign on the sneeze guard that lists the name and calories per serving of every item on the buffet. I wonder how the heck customers will be able to measure out a serving, short of bringing their  own measuring cups, spoons or scales, which I assume would be frowned upon by the establishment, not to mention the local health department. But how else would you be able to figure out how many garbanzo beans are in a 2-ounce serving, as listed on the prototype salad bar sign in the FDA’s draft guidance? Seems like it would be pretty easy to end up consuming two or three times more calories than you think you are.

What about sit-down restaurants that serve food family style?

I don’t know how many family-style restaurants are part of chains with 20 or more locations, but the FDA fielded this question from them. The agency says that they have to declare the calories for the entire bowl or or pan. In other words, the menu would have to note that the bowl of mac and cheese for the table contains 5,000 calories (that’s a wild guess on the calorie count, but you get the idea). Family-style restaurants also could list the calories per serving and number of servings in the bowl, which brings me back to the measurement challenge.

How can pizza parlors list calories for every single combination of toppings, sauce and crust?

The menu labeling rule allows proprietors to declare the calorie counts for an entire pizza or per slice, as long as they also note how many slices are in each size of pizza. If they offer different types of crusts and sauces, they have to display the calorie counts for each, the same way they would for individual toppings.

Don’t get me wrong. I think calorie counts for food and drink ordered and consumed outside the home is useful information. While you might not be able to accurately total up your calories when you serve yourself at a buffet or family-style restaurant, at least you’ll get an idea of how one dish compares to another.

Some cities and counties already require that restaurants post information about the calories in the food and beverages they serve. Montgomery County, Maryland, where I live, has mandated since Jan. 1, 2011, that restaurants that are part of chains with at least 20 U.S. locations post nutritional information for menu items. Unlike the federal menu labeling mandate, my local law doesn’t apply to grocery stores, convenience stores or movie theaters.

Anecdotally, I can tell you that knowing the calorie counts of menu items has influenced what I order out, but that’s just me. Intuitively, though, it makes sense that informing diners about calories would lead to healthier choices and, perhaps, even spur restaurants to provide lower-calorie dishes.

But recent research into the effects of posting calories has reached mixed conclusions:

• Not enough large, well-designed studies have been conducted to determine the degree to which menu labeling encourages consumers to chose lower-calorie dishes and whether that translates into a healthier population, according to a reviewpublished in October. “Although the limited existing research finds little evidence of menu labeling shifting fast-food purchases, there are more promising findings that it may influence consumers at certain types of restaurants,” the authors concluded.
• An analysis published in July of calorie trends available in large U.S. chain restaurants found a slight decline per menu item from 2008 to 2015. That suggests that the prospect of the federal menu labeling mandate spurred the chains to cut calories, the researchers concluded. “Because chain restaurants are ubiquitous and represent a significant source of calories for many Americans, the observed calorie declines, although modest, may help consumers reduce their calorie intake and subsequently reduce obesity risk at the population level,” the scientists wrote. However, the October review article raised the possibility that restaurants have trimmed calories for reasons other than the menu labeling mandate.
• Another review of research into menu labeling, published in late September, found that it did not change the amount of calories, carbs, total fat, saturated fat or sodium in foods ordered and consumed away from home.
• But a study published in June suggests that people who paid attention to posted information about calories were three times more likely to choose healthier sides and beverages than those who ignored the information. The actual number of study participants who opted for the healthier sides and drinks was pretty small, though–only 7.5% of those who used the calorie menu labels and only 2.5% of those who didn’t. Plus, use of the menu labels didn’t make a difference in the types of entrees selected by study participants, who were recruited after they’d eaten at a large national fast-food chain.

The bottom line: If you’re serious about eating healthy and maintaining a healthy weight, your best bet might be to cut back on eating out altogether. Or at least stay away from those buffets and family-style restaurants.

But you probably already knew that.