When New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his proposed ban earlier this summer on sodas larger than 16 ounces, I lamented what I thought was a failure of the coverage. I couldn't find any good reporting on...
Category: fast food
When New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his proposed ban earlier this summer on sodas larger than 16 ounces, I lamented what I thought was a failure of the coverage. I couldn't find any good reporting on whether or not the ban would do what the mayor wanted--reduce obesity. Surely there must be research on this, I thought, but it wasn't easy to find in the coverage, most of which dealt with whether Bloomberg was being too schoolmarmish.
A couple of weeks later, I looked again, and I still could not find what I wanted to know.
Now a fine piece addressing these questions appears from what I'd consider an unlikely source: James Surowiecki, the economics...
Three years ago New York City required chain fast-food restaurants to post...
Three years ago New York City required chain fast-food restaurants to post calorie counts for items on their menu. Now a study by the city's health department shows that only 15 percent New Yorkers actually read the calorie ratings. But the report says that those who do read the listings tend to favor lower-calorie dishes.
The researchers, who checked the cash register receipts of more than 7,000 adult customers before the law went into effect and some 8,500 two years afterward, found no overall decline in calories consumed. But when they looked at only those who said they consulted the calorie listings, those customers ate about 100 fewer calories per meal--757 vs. 863. Results were published in the British Medical Journal, BMJ, ...
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