Not on the menu

Better Nutrition, May, 2005

If we showed you a 10-ounce restaurant hamburger and a side order of onion rings, could you estimate the number of calories in the meal? Not likely.

That test was tried on 200 nutritionists by New York University and a group calling for mandatory nutrition labeling for restaurant meals.

The food experts consistently underestimated the 1,550-calorie meal--by an average of 685 calories.

The point of the exercise: What chance does the average consumer have to judge the calorie and fat content of meals away from home?

Legislation now being considered in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois and Hawaii would require restaurants with 20 or more franchises to post nutritional data on the menu boards: calories, trans fats, cholesterol and salt content.