Letter to the editor published in USA Today on April 2, 2008, on nutrition information in restaurants

Nutrition information now more widely available in restaurants

In his piece "Feeding the Obesity Epidemic," David Zinczenko attempts to scare consumers by feeding them misinformation about the restaurant industry (The Forum, March 25).

It's unfortunate that Zinczenko chose to sensationalize his analysis. He had the perfect opportunity to highlight the tens of thousands of restaurants that are providing nutrition information to consumers in a wide variety of ways — on packaging, tray liners, posters, Web kiosks and brochures, as well as online.

He also omitted that nutrition information is available through multiple company-supplied resources for several of the items he "analyzed," even though he claimed the "typical American has no way to tell" the nutrition content of menu items.

Today, there is a positive and growing trend of restaurants offering more nutritious choices to consumers, as well as information about the menu items.

One example is the more than 55,000 restaurants nationwide that are participating in HealthyDiningFinder.com — a website in which the National Restaurant Association is a partner. It helps consumers select online the restaurant dishes that fit their dietary preferences.

Zinczenko also did not stress the importance of physical activity. This is surprising, as the magazine he works for places great emphasis on exercise. Balancing calories and physical activity is at least as important as the food choices one makes.

Since nutrition information was added to packaged food items in the 1990s, obesity rates have continued to rise, proving that information alone is not enough to make Americans healthier.

The National Restaurant Association supports the trend of more restaurants providing both menu and nutrition information.

But for that information to truly make a difference, we all need to work together to help consumers understand how that information relates to them.

Dawn Sweeney
President and CEO
National Restaurant Association
Washington