Should Calories Be On Menus Everywhere?

by Bev Sklar (Subscribe to Bev Sklar's posts)
Apr 15th 2009 5:00PM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

Most chain restaurants -- except a few like Applebee's -- provide nutritional information on websites or via pamphlets and posters at point-of-sale. But who actually requests the nitty-gritty nutritional details from a server or a fast-food cashier? You're starving, and they're rushing to take your order and upsell an appetizer or biggie fries.

Common sense tells me hardly anyone asks, and now there's proof. A new observational study found only 0.1 percent of fast-food patrons -- that's six out of 4,311 observed -- accessed on-premise nutritional information before placing their orders. Why is point-of-sale nutritional information available in an ask-only format, when consumers won't ask?

Since most of us won't verbally inquire, a readable "1,500 calories, 35 grams of fat" aside that double cheeseburger combo meal with fries and drink is not only better, it may be just the stare-in-the-face you need to prompt a better choice. Like the required weigh-in upon entering a Weight Watchers meeting, I need the nutritional lowdown in bright lights. When will the fast food/chain nation follow NYC and Philly's lead to mandate calorie posting on menus?

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Comments (7)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Melinda 4-15-2009 @ 6:26PM

You know, I am glad that fast food is starting to put the calories on the menu in NY, but I am sorely disappointed at the statistics this "study" found out.

As a calorie counter, I go online to read the nutritional information from the restaurants website. Some websites (like Red Robin for example) will let you customize the burgers for a more accurate result. So watching people through a video camera to see who asks for the nutrition info, or walks to the wall, or asks the cashier is skewed.

In addition, as a health conscious person, I have my staples I get at fast food places. I don't check the menu or read the wall upon those visits either. I'm sure a person going to Mc Donalds ordering a quarter pounder with cheese knows it's not "healthy" for them.

However, it does make restaurants come up with healthier options. I just hope they account for all the calories in the meal, opposed to the "per serving" as they sometimes do on the website.

Cory 4-15-2009 @ 7:29PM

Love the article... I agree, I believe that everyone should be told what is in their food. I have realized that most people actually eat out more than they cook their own meals, and what saddens me is that they have no idea what they are eating. I believe most of these fast food places are the cause of most of the worlds obesity and lack of health. I conder fast food to be a poision to my body and will barely ever eat it cause I know the calories and fat that are in that crap haha...

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u262f 4-15-2009 @ 9:25PM

I doubt posting calorie and fat counts would help people make better decisions. Everybody already knows that fast food is bad for them, but people go anyways. The problem is lack of self control rather than lack of information.

The test results don't mean anything. Just because they don't ask in the store during the study doesn't mean they don't know the numbers. Fast food establishments and menus simply don't change very often, and if people are in a fast food place, they certainly don't have time to go browse through nutritional information. Everybody who cares already looked up the numbers a long time ago. I would be more convinced that the study is useful if they studied the people who looked at the information in a completely new store that people aren't already familiar with.

Furthermore, how accurate can the nutritional information be anyways? If the minimum wage worker's hands squeeze a bit too hard on each of however many condiment bottles they use, that could add up to a bunch more calories or grams of fat. Posting the information doesn't mean that it's necessarily accurate, and it opens the restaurants to stupid lawsuits about fraud and/or forces restaurants to automate even more to reduce human variation, which in turn usually results in the food going through even more processing, turning it to something even less healthy.

I love having more information, but be careful what you wish for.

JJ 4-15-2009 @ 11:50PM

Sometimes when I go out to dinner, I don't really want to know what's in my food. Typically a dinner out doesn't happen all that often, and when it does I want to indulge a little and get something that I a) rarely eat, or b) could never recreate at home. For people who eat out all the time, yes, calorie counts are a good idea, but for those of us who typically cook for ourselves and eat healthy the majority of the time, I just want to live in ignorant bliss when I go out.

http://littlemissjay.wordpress.com/

Bev Sklar 4-16-2009 @ 12:56AM

Melinda, Cory, u262f and JJ,
Appreciate all your insights on this. No kidding about the irregular condiment servings, I hate it when the Subway guy squirts on enough mayo for a week's worth of sandwiches.

I agree a whole lot of people have a pretty good idea how awful fast food really is (not asking does not equate to 100 percent cluelessness), but there's power in boldly stating the facts up front. Also, chain restaurant diners have more ordering time to peruse the menu and make an informed choice. If you can list price, you can list nutritional info. I've never been the type to research before stepping in, I'd much rather look up at the menu-board for the nutritional truth before ordering.
And yes, there are times I want to go out and enjoy a dinner in ignorant bliss, but to avoid the 40s waistline creep, this is a rarity for me. I tend to regret it.
Bev

katetanlee 4-16-2009 @ 5:20AM

I know fast food are awful to the body. But I'm glad fast food restaurants are telling me how many calories I am consuming as I munch on their burgers and fries.

Food places that publish their menus are trying to put across a point that they respect their consumers' decision and treat them as responsible persons. They adopt a "I-let-you-know-how-much-you-eat" attitude.

Whether consumers ask is not pertinent - what is important is that these food places show that they care enough to print those calories-counting menus out in the first place.

The rest is up to us - the consumer - to ask for it.

www.toyourstruly.com