Conflicting Results Of NYC’s Fast Food Law
On Monday, New York City officials said that their fast-food law of 2008 “” a directive enacted last year requiring that fast-food chains clearly display the calorie information for all menu items “” was a success despite the results of a recently completed independent study showing that the regulation had no noticeable effect.
Researchers for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene compared surveys of over 10,000 fast-food consumers in 2007 and with another 12,000 from earlier this year and say that their preliminary data point to a reduction in the number of calories consumed at nine of the 13 fast-food restaurants and coffee shop chains that were included in a previous study on the effects of menu-labeling.
At an annual meeting of the Obesity Society in Washington, city officials reported that 56 percent of the fast-food customers surveyed said they had taken notice of the posted nutritional information and that frequenters of such ubiquitous chains as KFC, McDonald’s and Starbucks had decreased their calorie consumption by an average of 106 calories based on that information.
Conflicting studies conducted by New York University and Yale University shortly before and after the municipal legislation was enacted, however, indicated that fast-food consumers in low-income areas of the city remained unaffected by the new law.
Both university studies were sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonprofit organization aimed at improving health and healthcare in America.
The disputed accuracy of the conflicting reports will likely be of significant import for cities like Seattle and Portland as well as states such as California which have used the New York statute as a template for their own anti-obesity laws.
With an ever-increasing obesity epidemic in the U.S. “” currently affecting around one-third of all adults “” many public health crusaders see menu labeling legislation as a powerful weapon for fighting the unhealthy condition which can lead to a host of other medical complications.
New York health officials are arguing for the accuracy of their reports, saying that their use of larger and more diverse study samples over longer periods of time represent a more accurate reflection of the effects of the legislation.
New York’s assistant commissioner to the Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control claims that the city’s finding point to the fact that New Yorkers are not only noticing the nutritional information but acting on it as well””though she warns that a permanent change in dining habits will take time.
“Dietary change is likely to come gradually; it will start with consumers interested in making informed, healthy eating decisions and we hope the industry will respond by offering more healthier choices and appropriate portion sizes,” she said.
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