"Counting Calories"

I watched a 60 Minutes segment--Counting Calories--for class on the menu labeling efforts in New York. It aired in 2007 so it was a few years out of date, but presented interesting arguments both for and against menu board labeling in fast food chains.

For fast food labeling:

• Americans need to SOMEHOW be more aware of what they eat when they eat out! A study done by a Cornell professor showed that people consistently under-estimated (by half!) the amount of calories they were consuming at restaurants.

Against fast food labeling:

• The fast food chains shouldn't be singled out just because they already do nutritional analysis of their foods or simply because they're a big and unpopular target. If they're going to be singled out then it ought to be done on the basis of some more objective measure (eg: the number of calories people consume at their stores, etc.)

Practically speaking, the controversy surrounding the passage of this regulation is a definite sign that any time of labeling measure is going to be an uphill battle. Public health professionals interested in taking the food industry on ought to have well-thought out arguments.

The debate continues because menu labeling measures have now appeared in health care reform legislation. The question is, is menu labeling the answer?? Thoughts?

***Look up the video: its' narrated by Lesley Stahl, produced by CBS.