Boiling down dietary health

By: Trice Whitefield
Newspaper: Los Angeles Times

By attempting to reduce dietary health to a single statistic, the recently enacted menu-labeling ordinance will only distract New Yorkers from the bigger picture. The policy excludes all nutritional information except calories from our immediate consideration, perpetuating the myth that calories are all that count.

Our diet has much broader contexts. One infamous study done a few years ago found that, when given the exact same food, people who enjoyed a meal absorbed more nutrients than those who did not. There's no mention of listing pleasure on the menu.

By boiling down countless considerations for a healthy diet into a handful of nutrients, city officials are sending a dangerous message. The food cops have arrogantly decided that they know what's best for all of us.