Mandatory Calorie Disclosure is Neither Effective nor Accurate

New York City restaurants are required to disclose the calorie count of meals on their menus. The idea was based on a study suggesting if people knew how many calories they were consuming would cause them to select lower calorie meals (article). Yet analysis of various menu items found discrepancies between posted calorie counts and counts from an independent lab. The differences ranged from 30% to 100%.

The Wall Street Journal also produced a video, "Does Anyone Actually Count Calories?" interviewing people about whether calorie counts posted on menus caused them to alter their foods they order. Most said it made little difference. The few who used the calorie counts were already prone to watch what they ate.

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