Healthy Menus Minneapolis
VOLUME
Reformation: A Beneficial ome of Menu Labeling
Grassroots Campaign Update
the Center for Science in the Public nu labeling policies have passed in hiladelphia and Multnomah County R and have been implemented in y. A comparison of menu items in y before (March 2007) and after calorie posting requirements went ows significant decreases in calories ms;
uts Glazed Cake Stick before after e difference
ss Buffalo Wings before after e difference
Large French Fries before after difference
Blueberry Muffin before after difference
We’re gearing up for the Minneapolis election season and we need you to help educate on the importance of calorie labeling and a trans fat phase-out. If you live in Wards 1 please call Jennifer Anderson at 612-362-3752 and we’ll get a meeting set up with city candidates to talk about these issues.
Healthy Menus Minneapolis signed up 20 new supporters at the Native American Day C at the Midtown Farmers Market on Saturday, September 26th! Several health organiza on hand to provide information about local programs and resources. It was a beautiful outdoor celebration!
We will have a booth at the Minneapolis Diabetes Expo on Saturday, October 24t Minneapolis Convention Center from 9am – 3pm. As we continue to look for opportun educate and provide information about calorie labeling, if you know of an event we cou please let us know! Also, if your organization would like a presentation about Healthy Minneapolis we would be happy to provide that as well. Please contact Jennifer Anderson at 612-362-3752 or janderson@metrodoctors.com
New York City thriving with trans fat phase-out
According to U.S. News and World Report, when New York City went trans fat free in N 2008, there was plenty of resistance to the issue. “There were the usual “nanny state “said Dr. Lynn Silver, assistant commissioner of the department’s Bureau of Chronic D Prevention and Control. Initially the campaign was voluntary, Silver said. “But after o there was no change,” she said, so public health officials decided to make the ban man They have declared the effort a success with total and saturated fat and trans fat in Fr for instance, decreasing by more than 50 percent in New York City restaurants. The re found the use of trans fats for frying, baking or cooking and in spreads declined from 5 less than 2 percent.
Consumers didn’t seem to mind. “It became clear that trans fats were being successfu and no one noticed the difference,” Silver said. “Foods tasted just as good, and diners healthier.”
The problem with trans fats, Silver and her colleagues wrote in their report is that incr intake by just 2 percent can increase the risk for a heart attack or other cardiovascula as much as 23 percent.
Restaurants’ fears that diners would protest or the ban would affect business didn’t ha according to Silver, and the good news for restaurant patrons is that they don’t have t about what they’re eating as much as they once did.
Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preve in an editorial accompanying the report that Tiburon, a small community north of San actually restricted trans fats in its 18 restaurants as early as 2003.
“The scientific rationale for eliminating exposure to artificial trans fatty acids in foods i she wrote. Not only do they not have health benefits, but they are harmful, she said.
al Menu Labeling Update
Counting calories at work
bany County, New York have both passed eling ordinances in recent weeks. There es and 13 localities (6 in New York) with place!
The University of California at Berkley’s Center for Weight and Health reports that whe menus and menu boards at work-site cafeterias are labeled with calorie and nutrition i workers will likely select healthier food and snack options.
ral Menu Labeling Update
na Balkus, Nutrition Policy Coordinator at Science in the Public Interest, the national bill is currently supported by public health and a majority of the restaurant industry, uded in both the HELP and Energy and sions of the health reform bill. Menu mponent of the prevention provisions of h includes strategies for tackling serious sues such as obesity, smoking cessation, ngs, and environmental health hazards. cy organizations, including CSPI, are o make sure the entire package is ughout the health reform process.
The center studied five Kaiser Permanente cafeterias to see how calorie labeling influe selection among customers, including employees, at hospital cafeterias. Researchers e patrons’ lunchtime purchases before and after implementing calorie labeling. They an register receipts at two cafeterias and made direct observations at others.
The study involved one of three menu labeling scenarios: calorie labeling on menu boa placards at the point of purchase, a wall poster with both calorie and detailed nutrition and no information.
From August to November 2008, more than 500 patrons completed cafeteria exit surv weeks after labeling was introduced. Two-thirds of participants at the menu board site calorie disclosure had altered their purchase. “This research showed that posting calor changes patron food selections,” says Karen Webb, co-author of the study and researc center. Kaiser Permanente will post calorie information on menu boards in the cafeter operates in California, Oregon and Hawaii. Where the health care provider does not op own cafeterias, the program will be phased in over time.
“We are pleased to set an example that will encourage healthier choices for our emplo communities,” says Dean Edwards, vice president and chief procurement officer at Kai Permanente.
Minneapolis
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