As much as I approve of healthy eating as a personal choice, I love it when the do-gooders create this sort of unintended consequence in response to government force.
Posted on 06/21/2013 10:59:47 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
CDC: Mandated Nutrition Labels on Restaurant Menus Do Not Improve Nutritional Content
Recommends more government regulations and increased government and media pressure anyway. Jeryl Bier June 21, 2013 1:14 PM
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday published the results of a study on the effects of nutrition labeling on fast-food menus from 2005 to 2011. Researchers were interested in impact of locally instituted regulations by various states and municipalities, including New York City, on the overall "healthfulness" of menu offerings. The report concluded that mandated menu labeling at fast food chains did not improve nutritional content. While there was a 50 percent increase in “healthier” options (from 13 percent to 20 percent of all menu selections), overall menu nutrition was unchanged. From the report [emphasis added]:
These findings suggest that menu labeling has thus far not affected the average nutritional content of fast-food menu items, but it may motivate restaurants to increase the availability of healthier options...
We found that after the implementation of menu labeling there was a statistically significant increase in the percentage of healthier adult entrées at restaurants in jurisdictions with menu-labeling laws compared with restaurants that were not in jurisdictions subject to labeling. Little improvement, however, was seen among children’s entrées during this period, and no significant changes in average nutritional values were seen among adult entrées and sides.
In some of the five chains studied, some menu selections even moved in a decidedly unhealthy direction, thus negating the impact of the increased number of "healthy" choices:
...2 of 5 showed no improvement and even launched new options, such as bacon cheeseburgers, that increased average calories by almost 20% and cholesterol by almost 140%.
Despite the disappointing results, however, the researchers suggest that, in addition to further study, the response to these findings should be more government regulations and increased government and media pressure:
Our results suggest menu labeling may provide fast-food restaurants with motivation to introduce healthier menu options; however, greater pressure may be necessary to generate overall average nutritional improvements...
Additional public policies and media advocacy campaigns may be needed to spur broader changes in restaurant offerings so that healthier restaurant choices become the default choice for consumers... In addition, policy makers could consider minimum nutritional standards for meals targeted to children, as have been implemented in a few local jurisdictions... Simultaneous strategies should be considered to encourage chain restaurant companies to significantly improve the nutritional quality of the foods they sell, with portion-size reduction a key focus.
Researchers were particularly concerned with the lack of healthy selections for children, since when using the stricter "nutritional criteria to define healthier options," only one of the nine fast food chains in the study even had any qualifying items.
The trick is people eat what they want to eat. Some bluenose at FDA or USDA Nutrition Service or a university study team or..... just name it ~ NOBODY CARES when it’s time to eat!
As much as I approve of healthy eating as a personal choice, I love it when the do-gooders create this sort of unintended consequence in response to government force.
But the mandated nutritional labels at least provide liberal buttinskies with the self-delusions that they are doing something to protect us from ourselves, and that’s the important thing.
I think that FR should ban the posting of pictures of bacon cheeseburgers because that one actually just got me hungry.
i eat what i want to eat.
the nutritional info is just for light reading when i have nothing else to read within reaching distance
Shorter CDC: “Time to legislate ingredients.”
People who pore over labels for nutritional content do not eat at fast food outlets. (A generalization, I know)
As an aging, overweight adult, I’ve become very conscious of what I eat and have adopted very healthy eating habits.
But —————— when I go to a place that became famous for specific menu items, I am already aware that some of them are very high in calories, fat, carbs, etc., and if that’s what I want to have for dinner, I don’t want Barry & Moochie sticking his big nose and her fat butt into my business.
Get a clue. There’s a reason for the results of this study: People don’t want to be told what to eat, and sometimes they even CHOOSE to make unhealthy choices. I’ve lost 100lbs in a little over a year, and I eat very healthy foods most of the time. But when I go to a steakhouse, I want a steak, even if it’s a smaller cut. When I go to a rib place, I want ribs, even if I split the meal with my wife. If I go to a Mexican place, I eat a ‘regular’ Mexican dinner. I work ‘em into my lifestyle quite well and don’t need a Poindexter with a pencil to tell me how to do it.
Get the hell out of my life!
Where's Captain Obvious when you need him? Any twit could have told them this for free!
All it does is tie-up the line at the drive thru when the idiot at the speaker can’t figure out if he’s looking at a price or a calorie count.
Once in a while I do, to find out HOW MANY calories I can get for my buck. Take that, Bloomberg!
LOL!
Excellent Value for the $$$
There are some days when nothing but a cheeseburger will cure what ails me.
Is that better? Miss Wyoming needs the burger and will take your mind off it.
I follow the same rule every time — ordering the highest caloric meal listed to get the best odds for a good tasting meal and best bang for the buck,
Meal decisions are now also much more easily & quickly made, also saving me time.
Well if you eat the label, it does improve your fiber.
can't we choose what we want now?.....if I go out to eat and pay exorbitant prices I want taste....I want flavor...
There is a bit of a silver lining to the nanny state. Whenever I'm trying to decide which cleaning product, insecticide, chemical, etc. to buy, I just look for the "not for sale in California" label to help guide me.
California seems to have a strict policy of outlawing anything that actually works.
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