McDonald’s to List Calories on Menu

September 13, 2012 — In advance of required changes, McDonald’s announced today they will start displaying calories on their restaurant menus. The Affordable Care Act, upheld by the Supreme Court this summer, requires all restaurants with more than 20 locations to display the calories of menu items, though the precise requirements and timing of the change have not been announced. McDonald’s has been promoting “Favorites Under 400 Calories” in some of their restaurants this summer. Many experts favor the change, but a recent study did not find  evidence that simply listing calories on menus drives consumers to make lower-calorie food choices. Listing food choices and calorie content in order from low-to-high calorie content did appear have a positive impact as did listing food choices from low-to-high calorie content and adding a green or red circle next to each food item.

You can read the New York Times story on McDonald’s here. You can also read about the study here.