Health care bill means menu calorie counts nationwide

A provision included in the more than 2,000 pages that make up the recently passed health care bill will expand a policy of putting calorie counts on chain restaurant menus, the Wall Street Journal health blog points out. Currently a handful of cities and counties across the U.S.—including New York City, and Washington state’s King County—require calorie information to be provided to customers of chain restaurants, but the new legislation will take that policy nationwide. Any American restaurants with more than 20 locations will be required to provide calorie information to customers, under the new legislation. Previous research has shown that access to calorie information doesn’t necessarily have a strong impact on adults’ food choices, but it has been shown to influence food decisions that parents make for their children.