Act prompts healthy choices by requiring calorie counts

With the U.S. government’s recent interest in health-care reform, calorie counting has gone beyond the habits of the Real Housewives and is now an issue of national concern. The Labeling Education and Nutrition Act of 2009 aims to reduce the problems of obesity and associated medical conditions by mandating that restaurants provide nutritional information on their menus.

This health-savvy piece of legislation was originally introduced in March 2009 and is intended to educate consumers regarding their nutritional choices. The LEAN Act will force chains with 20 or more restaurants to provide calorie counts for all dishes on their menus. While the LEAN Act opens up the door for discussion on the dangers of obesity, the measure will benefit a wide array of restaurant consumers ““ healthy, lazy, big or small ““ in terms of making smart nutritional choices, as demonstrated by a similar act: the California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law.

The facts are clear regarding obesity in America. According to a study published by the Health Affairs journal last month, the medical costs of obesity have doubled since 1998 to $147 billion last year, half of which is funded by Medicare and Medicaid. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity has increased by 37 percent from 1998 to 2006.

Of course, certain restaurants warrant obvious nutritional decisions. One isn’t necessarily thinking about calories and carbs when ordering a hamburger, milkshake and fries at McDonald’s or Jack in the Box. But some local restaurants in Westwood yield surprising results, proving that even some restaurants that appear to offer healthy meals are actually quite deceiving.

California Pizza Kitchen’s full-sized Original BBQ Chicken Chopped salad weighs in at 1,269 calories, and its chicken lettuce wraps are 912 calories. Ackerman Union’s own Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill serves up cheese quesadillas at 1,070 calories per serving and guacamole and chips at 790 calories per serving.

With calorie counts like these, it’s clear that caloric information very clearly affects the dietary decisions of everyday Americans, especially students.

“It’s hard to keep track of what you’re eating when you’re juggling school, work and other activities,” said William Cheon, a fourth-year international development studies student. “But having the calorie counts right in front of me will help me be somewhat more cautious about what I eat.”

Students can utilize caloric information on menus not necessarily to make drastic changes to their diets, but to make more practical ““ and more economical ““ decisions, such as splitting a dish with a friend or taking home half of what they eat to save for later.

There are, however, some loopholes to the LEAN Act. The provision requires chains with 20 or more restaurants operating under the same name to adhere to the calorie-count law.

This means that chains like Patina Restaurant Group, which operates 60 cafes and restaurants and earns about $200 million a year, is exempt from the LEAN Act, simply because its member businesses do not go by the name “Patina.” Patina owns food establishments at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

For this reason, Taco Bell and Domino’s Pizza have called for an amendment to the LEAN Act, in which the calorie count applies to all restaurant chains that meet a minimum financial standard of $1 million.

It’s reasonable to exclude small restaurant businesses from the LEAN Act, but most, if not all, big-corporation food chains must be included in the measure. Sure, making calorie counts more readily available will not induce a dramatic health-conscious food revolution, but it will influence consumers to make smarter choices with their diets, and, in turn, inspire food companies to provide healthier options.

The idea of calorie counting may seem like an extremely unattractive idea, especially on a night out for dinner or for a late-night snack run. But the LEAN Act will allow all types of consumers ““ especially time-pressed Bruins ““ to make healthier decisions regarding their food, and learn about proper nutrition.

E-mail Chung at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].