CALORIE COUNTERS

Maine would be a healthier place if everyone here got as much exercise as the restaurant industry’s lobbyists are getting this week in Augusta in their attempt to defeat a really useful bill. But all their scurrying and arm-twisting could have the opposite effect of slimming down Maine – unless lawmakers (politely) tell the lobbyists to take a hike.

LD 391 would have restaurants with more than 20 locations post nutrition information, such as the number of calories in a meal, where people are likely to see it. Some of the larger chains have argued that they already make this information available in pamphlets or posters that the curious could find. Rep. Sean Faircloth, the lead sponsor of a bill, perceptively observes that these restaurants don’t use pamphlets or posters to ask customers whether they want to super-size their meals, they ask as the customers are ordering and they do it then because that’s when the customers are making their decisions.

This bill helps customers become more aware of their choices, then leaves it to them to make responsible choices, recognizing that what looks good at a regular size looks even better at a super size – until the larger version is shown to add a couple hundred calories. And while providing nutrition information on food packages hasn’t cured the nation’s taste for fatty, sugary foods, many people do read the labels and make at least part of their diets more healthful.

Maine lawmakers have several steps to take in supporting the legislation. First, they must acknowledge Maine has a weight problem. Second, that the problem can be largely solved through improved diet and more exercise. Third, that diet would be improved through more specific and more easily accessible information about the foods people eat. Finally, that providing this information at the point of sale at chain restaurants, where people are spending more and more of their food dollars, is the most effective place to convey it. Each of the steps is reasonable and the cost low.

LD 391 has support among lawmakers from both parties and from more than two dozen health organizations, including the American Diabetes Association, the Maine Academy of Family Physicians, the Northeast affiliate of the American Heart Association and the Maine Center for Public Health. The reason for such broad support is clear because of the crucial demand for action to confront the health and health care cost problems of obesity.

Added to these costs was another reported this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of

California at San Diego, found that obese children rated their quality of life as similar levels as did young cancer patients on chemotherapy. What parents wouldn’t like basic, accessible information to help their children avoid the physical and mental stress of obesity?

Posting calorie counts for fast food may seem like an inadequate response, but the culture of obesity arrived in many small steps and will likely be cured by them. LD 391 is a worthy, affordable step, and deserves support.