Eating Out? Bring a Calculator

Restaurant patrons have long used calculators to figure out how much to tip their waiter. Now, it appears calculators are needed before ordering for those who want to really know how many calories they’re about to eat.

Menus might list how many calories an entree contains but they don’t always break it down to individual serving, according to a new study published in the Journal of Urban Health. Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center also found that some nutritional information was posted in a way that consumers could end up eating twice as many calories as intended.

The discovery comes at a pivotal time for Americans. More than two-thirds of adults are either overweight or struggling with obesity. The added weight has put many people at risk for associated health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke.

Federal lawmakers passed a law in 2010 to help people make better nutritional choices and lose weight. Restaurants nationwide that have 20 or more locations must provide calorie data and nutritional information for menu items and self-service foods.

But the study from Columbia University Medical Center researchers raises questions about its effectiveness.

“Although most postings were legally compliant, they did not demonstrate utility,” the study’s authors wrote. “Menu postings for individual servings are easily understood, but complex math skills are needed to interpret meals designed to serve more than one person. In some items, calories doubled depending on flavor, and the calorie posting did not give enough information to make healthier selections.”

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