Globe Editorial
Calorie-counting is not enough to combat obesity, not when calories are so plentiful and so cheap. That is the sobering suggestion from the first study of New York City’s first-in-the-nation law requiring restaurant chains to post calorie counts. Researchers at New York University and Yale analyzed more than 1,100 receipts last summer from customers of McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and KFC in poor neighborhoods. The average number of calories purchased by customers actually increased - from 825 in the two weeks before the law to 846 a month after it took effect.
Lead author Brian Elbel says that while 54 percent of people read the calorie counts, changing behavior will require more prodding. This is especially true in low-income communities where obesity is epidemic and healthy eating options are scarce.
Massachusetts has a restaurant calorie posting mandate scheduled to begin next year. But mere facts only go so far against such over-the-top creations as the McDonald’s “Third Pounder,’’ which weighs in at 790 calories, and Burger King’s 970-calorie Steakhouse XT burger. Thus, the effort to encourage healthier eating will also require better education effort, changes in agricultural policy, and perhaps even taxes on the worst foods.
Obesity is a public-health hazard. Better labeling would have been an easy solution. Too bad it doesn’t seem to work.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
