By Jennifer Mann
The Kansas City Star

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hoping to address a nationwide epidemic of obesity, the Food and Drug Administration is considering a proposal to require restaurants to label menus with nutrition information.
    It is a notion that gives the restaurant industry indigestion.
    The idea bubbled up at a recent FDA meeting at which regulators sought input from the public to help battle obesity. The government estimates that more than 60 percent of the population is overweight and that obesity costs about $117 billion a year in economic losses and health-care expenditures.
   
    Strong opposition: The National Restaurant Association labeled the idea as an unworkable, unwieldy regulatory threat to a $425 billion-a-year industry.
    "We're very much opposed to mandatory labeling," said Allison Whitesides, the association's director of legislative affairs. "We're not a box. We're not a can. We can't stick a label on a plate of pasta.
    "The industry has so many different types of restaurants that menu labeling is just not workable," Whitesides said. "Some menus change daily, some nightly, some in the middle of a shift. Besides, folks don't even necessarily know what those numbers mean, and there are other components -- not the least of which is personal choice."
    The debate pits public health against private-sector profits, Big Brother against free will.
   
    Advocating change: Most current proposals, which include legislation introduced in six states and Washington, D.C., would require chains with 20 or more restaurants to label menus. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., plans to introduce federal legislation on the subject Wednesday.
    Jeff Cronin, communications director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, dismissed the restaurant association's arguments.
    "The marketplace usually works better when people are armed with information," Cronin said. "[The industry's] fear -- and I don't know if it's justified or not -- is that people would choose regular-size items over supersized ones, and that could cut into profits."
    Bill Otto, an employee of Hallmark Cards Inc. who lives in Raytown, Mo., recently was heading into Gates Bar-B-Q on Main Street for a late lunch of a turkey sandwich. Otto, who has two arterial stents, said he would welcome nutrition information from restaurants.
    "I have to watch my cholesterol and triglycerides," Otto said. "So I think people would be happy to have that kind of information, particularly those with medical problems."
    In an effort to address the issues raised by rampant obesity, the Food and Drug Administration held its first public meeting Oct. 23. The agency is to deliver a report in February.
    Alan Rulis, the FDA's senior adviser for applied nutrition and a participant in the meeting, said the panel quickly decided to include the restaurant industry in any discussions.
    "We think it's quite valid, because people eat out so much," Rulis said. "There is no way to address the obesity issue without taking into account restaurant food."
    Indeed, almost half of all the money spent on food is spent on fare consumed away from the home. In recent years, the frequency of dining out has increased across all demographic and socioeconomic categories.
   
    Supersize it: As more people eat out, choices are abundant, beginning with the quick-serve segment of the industry, which kicked off the supersizing of food.
    Realizing that consumers love a value, many restaurants -- chains in particular -- increased the sizes of their plates and glasses. Movie theaters supersized popcorn tubs. Straws at McDonald's have a bigger-than- average circumference.
    Indeed, folks who munch during movies might consider fasting for a day. A large popcorn with butter has 1,650 calories, and a 42-ounce Coke has 410 calories.
    The abundance of food shows up in the statistics. The Agriculture Department has concluded that the daily per capita food production in the United States has reached a record high of 3,900 calories.
    For several years, Food and Drug Administration guidelines have recommended men and very active women consume up to 2,500 calories daily. Other women and inactive men need only about 2,000 calories daily.
    Put simply, if you put food in front of people, they will eat it, said Brian Wansink, a professor of nutritional science and marketing at the University of Illinois who runs the Web site http://www. foodpsychology. com.
    Wansink said that study after study bore out the theory. In one test, consumers who received large tubs of popcorn ate 45 percent to 50 percent more than those who got smaller tubs.
    He said that even when the popcorn was stale, people still ate 40 percent to 45 percent more.
    "One theory that comes into play is the clean-your-plate phenomenon," Wansink said. "We find that when we give people more, they eat more."