Several states and cities have already adopted laws requiring chain restaurants to post the calories on their menus. While business owners affected have protested against these laws in the past, the restaurant industry now supports a bill that would require calories on menus nationwide. The Education and labeling menu (MEAL) Act is sponsored by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski and Democratic senators Tom Carper and Tom Harkin and is supported by the National Restaurant Association and the National Council of Chain Restaurants, and several health groups, there including the American diabetes Association and American Heart Association. The senators said that under the proposed legislation, consumers would also be able to request other nutritional information such as fat, sodium, and carbohydrate content. While most restaurants naturally prefer not to list calorie information at all, a draft national law would at least impose consistency of the labeling system, as opposed to a series of bills to state and local with different requirements.
Menu Education and Labeling Act would, of course, great news for dieters. Many diet programs focus on calorie counting or following a specific nutrition plan, and dining in restaurants can sometimes derail a strict diet. Having nutritional information available certainly help those watching their weight to overcome the challenge of integration of restaurant meals in their plans.
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