Much like counting sheep won’t get you to fall asleep any faster, counting calories at Taco Time won’t get you to change your order from the Big Juan burrito combo meal to a bland garden salad any sooner either. At least that’s what researchers concluded upon analyzing the ordering behavior of consumers after a law requiring chain restaurants to post nutritional information on menus and boards was implemented two years ago in King County, WA. By looking at sales from seven Taco Time restaurants in King County and comparing them to seven Taco Times in nearby areas where the nutritional law was not enacted, the study authors couldn’t detect “even the slightest hint of changes” in the total number of sales and average number of calories per transaction between the two groups.
According to Eric Finkelstein, a Duke University associate health-services professor involved in the study, “The additional information appears not to have made a difference.”
“This is what we’ve been saying from the beginning,” adds ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “Mandatory menu labeling is not the solution to the complex obesity epidemic.”
We’ll cut King County and other counties that have implemented similar calorie count laws some slack though, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. “These regulations have only been in effect for a relatively short duration, so we’ll give researchers more time to conduct studies where menu labeling might actually have an impact.”
