Vote in This Week's Poll: Should we limit the display of nutritional values in restaurants and schools?
Monday July 13, 2009
In a recent and thought-provoking article, our Eating Disorders Guide, Matt, posed an interesting question: Should we limit the display of nutritional values in restaurants or schools?
The reason Matt asked this question is because of a controversy you may remember from awhile back. Harvard University removed nutritional information from its menu because some students and parents raised concerns about the impact of this information on people with eating disorders. Namely, that this kind of information might trigger some people toward disordered eating.
What do you think? Does posting nutritional data about food, like calories, fat, sugar, etc. help us or hurt us? Should we be concerned about people who have eating disorders and, therefore limit where and how we post nutritional information? Vote in this week's poll and tell us what you think.
Comments
I voted that it should be visible. The argument towards not having it available seems spurious to me at best. To me, it is like trying to argue that the public library should not carry books that discuss 9/11 because it could be a sensitive subject.
I voted that I don’t know because I can see the eating disorder point of view and how it can lead to extreme calorie counting in those who don’t fully understand nutrient needs. But at the same time, I feel not having the labels will prevent those who want to know more about health or should be more aware of what their eating wont be able to have this information.
Of course this information should be shown, plus it would give us a better idea exactly how large the meals are. How about that dinner roll ? how much butter ? how much salt ?
The information should be as visible as possible – don’t over-eating and lack of knowledge of a proper diet also constitute to some extent as eating disorders? Anorexia and bulimia are the physical manifestations of mental illness – it is ignorant to suggest the availability of nutritional information would trigger or further exacerbate either condition.
It should be displayed, people with anorexia aren’t that way because of nutritional values of food. From the people with eating disorders I have known they were the way they are from seeing models in magazines, people in movies, or even family members telling them they were to fat, even if they were not.
If anything it may help some of the overweight kids lose weight as they will be able to see exactly how many calories/fat/protein/carbs etc. is in the food they are eating..
The information should be available for those interested. Ideally, there should also be a bar code with all the detailed nutritional data in a standard format. The data could be scanned into a diet log in a personal computer or Internet diet logger account to keep track of calories taken in, etc, so the data doesn’t have to be entered manually. Instant nirvana.
the posters above are right about the misunderstanding of eating disorders. people don’t develop eating disorders based on nutrition labels. also, i think that the display of nutritional value in cafeterias and restaurants will encourage the establishments to produce healthier foods. of course labels with astronomically high calorie counts will discourage people from eating the food (i suggest you check out chili’s restaurant nutrition info). i don’t know that this is a concern for eating disorders so much as a concern for bad business.
please excuse the double comment, but i meant to add that i strongly believe there should be more (or any, in some places) nutrition education in schools.
At a time when our country is at its fattest, mostly due to people not being educated on how much fuel their body needs vs. how much fuel they are consuming, I am alarmed that this is even a topic of discussion. I’m curious what the ratio is of overweight/obese people to bulemia/anorexia affected people. I’m guessing the overweight/obese far outnumber the latter group. Our healthcare system is struggling to provide the care for diseases and conditions that a person could avoid or at the very least lower their risk of getting if they were to lose enough weight to get into a healthy BMI. The only way to fight obesity is through education and information. We need to fight for all restaurants to post the nutrional information of all menu items – not give them leverage to keep the information secret. How can a person make an informed decision about what they are willing to consume without all information? And to PR – I agree with you that anorexia and bulemia are the symptoms of a mental illness and need to be treated accordingly. Lastly, I speak from personal experience on the obese/overweight side of the argument, I have lost 41 pounds and am 11 pounds away from being a healthy BMI. Personally, I will not eat at a restaurant that does not publish their nutritional information. I know how much calories/fat/fiber/protein my body needs to function and be healthy and I use nutritional information as a guide to getting to my goals. Thanks for reading, I’ll get off my soapbox now…
I agree with everyone’s thoughts so far. I also wanted to point out that being educated about nutrition is a lot more complex than “eat as few calories as possible”, which is unfortunately the only way some people think when they see a label.
The kids in the cafeteria who are susceptible to developing eating disorders need to know that they should look at more than the number of calories, and even with calorie counting they should have a realistic idea of how many calories they need in a day.
Having recently been a teenage girl, I can say that no matter how healthy a lunch was, as I did the math, I’d start to panic a bit and want to undereat. I wish someone had sat me down back then and said, “Now look: You’re this active in a day ________ and you’re this age and height ________ so you need to eat this many calories a day: ____. It’s not a contest to see how little you can eat.”
Perhaps we could post nutritional information of a different kind to encourage healthy eating -for example, the function of the key nutrients in the food, the healing properties of a certain type of food or dish, the origin of the food (e.g. was it locally grown at a nearby farm?, other foods that it synergistically pairs well with, the cooking method used to prepare the food etc.). In this way, a person with an eating disorder will be able to associate different types of foods with their life-giving and healing properties rather than just in terms of calories and macronutrient content.
Well its an interesting question, while I see the point of not putting it up because of people with eating disorders. We don’t not sell alcohol or put up signs about a party with beer because someone of the fear that people will become alcoholics.
Its all the same thing really. I think more important thing to stop to help prevent eating disorders is knowledge. We can’t stop parents who tell their kids they are fat? We don’t stop Weight Watchers comercials? We still have skinny models. I think putting up the nutritional value of foods benefits a larger porttion of the population then it hurts. “the good of the many out weighs the good of few or the one”
The question should be not whether nutritional information will hurt those with eating disorders, the question really should be will we prevent future eating disorders by looking at the health of those nutritional values vs. this will make me fat. If the focus went from “weight” to “health” and magazines showed different body types, if the media didn’t focus on how Britney or Jessica or Oprah or anyone else gaing weight, lost weight, looks good, doesn’t look good. That is where the problem lies, education (ie nutritional values) should not be stopped.
Although, I can see the issue at schools and college campuses, but at restaurants. I do think our schools need better nutrition education, but first educate the teachers, then the kids.
Does more information about a snickers bar make you want to eat it less? If you read about food is your appetite often stimulated? If you see a food commercial don’t you want to eat?
Why so much food information? Who is so hungry anyway?
Maybe the food information should be given in places away from the food. Text books, classrooms, documentaries. etc
Showing nutritional information gives some accountability to people making the food, and also holds the people eating accountable–they know exactly what they are putting into their bodies, and have no excuses in that respect. Obesity is as high as 30% in some states, while eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia are about 3%.
Trust me, people with eating disorders are the ones who know what they are putting into their bodies. They count calories, and look up the nutritional information online, and usually overestimate how many calories they consume to “be safe.” The average person, on the other hand, is overweight, and studies have shown that they significantly underestimate their calories. An accurate posting of nutritional information can only serve to provide a more accuracy for people on both ends of the spectrum, as well as everyone in between.
When I taught my 5th graders some nutrition basics, they were aghast at the large caloric content and high fat/sugar amounts in their school lunches. It was a real eye-opener for them. By all means, make this information visible in LARGE FONT.
Amen to all of you! Let’s help those with eating disorders while not limiting help to others!
most of you dont know what you are talking about. you people are obviously educated in nutrition but ignorant when it comes to eating disorders, esp anorexia.
as someone who has been in and out of hospitals for many years with it, had 2 friends die of it, and because of it given myself pre-diabetes, a debilitating heart condition, probably wont be able to get pregnant from hormone damage, and multiple rib fractures from osteoperosis (and i’m only 28), i hate the insinuation that obesity is “more of a problem” than other types of eating disorders.
Anorexia has the HIGHEST RATE of death of ANY MENTAL ILLNESS!!! look it up. that doesnt even count the suicides associated with it.
I am not saying removing labels will fix eating disorders (including binge eating), but putting them everywhere is NOT HELPING…
There are several problems, off the top of my head– i know one is PORTION control, and the TYPES of food available to children, teens, young adults… healthy food is MORE EXPENSIVE, and NOT ACCESSIBLE to the fast paced lifestyle and lower income families. McD’s has labels on their food now, does it make people buy it any less?! what about the advertisements children are bombarded with on saturday morning cartoons??
labels aren’t going to stop the obesity problem — overeating is just as much of an eating disorder as anorexia. providing cheap, accessable, healthy foods will promote wellness without encouraging poor eating habits.
and eating disorders are only a manifistation of a complicated psychological expression of shame, low self-esteem, and a crap-load of pain. children grow up with conflicting messages about the “ideal” body weight from media outlets combined with an onslaught of unhealthy food everywhere. only rich school districts are going to have the funds to provide “health foods” while the buget cuts leave other schools with slapping labels on unhealthy food.
It is never about the food… labels will only encourage a cycle of shame to teens who already hate their bodies and will use anything to abuse themselves.
eating disorders are no joke. they directly reflect the conflicting messages of society through insecurity of those with low self-worth. sticking a label on food and calling it a solution is just redicuious.
that’s my two cents. i have no solution, just needed to voice the ugly truth about anorexia, and why perhaps there are objections to labels on everything.
I am a recovered anorexic. When I was a teenager back in the 70s, we had no nutritional information labels and no internet, but somehow I managed to find out the calories of every single food I was interested in.
I don’t even have to read labels now. As a party trick I can tell you how many calories in any food item, and drinks, too. Yeah, that’s a little weird. Turns out I have a mild form of OCD, which has actually been linked to anorexia.
Anorexics aren’t some bunch of gullible wannabees who see Lindsay Lohan lost weight so they have to do it too. It’s a real problem, a mental illness as somebody else put it above, and to blame it on magazines or “the media” (sigh) does anorexics a disservice.
Meanwhile, people who don’t have anorexia–which is most people–will happily order the extra large double-cheese whatever and because they eat one (large!) portion, think they aren’t overeating.
Those people NEED to know how much they are eating. They won’t have the compulsion to find out how many calories their lunches have. Putting it in front of them will help keep them healthy, and it will also keep the food providers honest. Nobody wants your 2000 calorie nacho plate? Tough–fix it so it’s a reasonable size!
All this shows is that even harvard-educated people can act like fools.
As a former anorexic, I agree with the comments left by Teresa. People do not become anorexic because of models in magazines or any of those other silly reasons. It is a control issue. Your weight is the one thing you feel you have control over in your life. No matter how skinny you become, you see the potential to lose more because it feeds the power you think you get from it. Any thing that shows you a shortcut to the smallest number of calories is pure gold. Nutrition is the last thing you care about- just give me a small enough waist that no one else can beat. Even now, when I get this “nutrition” information shoved at me, I have to fight not to over react. Fat people don’t become fat because they don’t know how much they are eating. They get that way because they eat until they feel full or safe again. It’s a mental issue for them too. All this so called information is a waste of paper because the ones that could most benefit from it ignore it anyway. You can’t fix mental issues with a list of calories and vitamins. Just another example of wasted regulation.