Calorie Counts on Menus Don't Work

Obamacare mandates that chain restaurants post calorie counts on menu boards. This is an example of “nudging.” Wouldn’t it be great if America’s obesity epidemic could be solved by just ensuring people are better informed about how many calories are in those French fries?

Well, the evidence is in, and calorie counts are ineffective. Dr. Aaron Carroll tells the story at his always informative and engaging Healthcare Triage YouTube channel.

Read the entire entry at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Would Outlawing Food Stamps For Soda Pop Decrease Obesity?

That’s what scholars at Stanford University and University of California, San Francisco, concluded in an article in Health Affairs. The authors compare two policies: banning the use of food stamps for the purchase of soda pop, or giving an extra subsidy of thirty cents on the dollar for the purchase of fruits and vegetables.

They conclude that the ban on soda pop would have a greater impact on obesity. However, they've missed an important factor: Food stamp recipients use soda pop as currency.

Read the entire column at The Independent Institute's Beacon blog or John Goodman's Health Policy Blog.

Where the Nanny Statists Begin, the Trial Lawyers Surely Follow

I've written more than once about the so-called "Happy Meals ban." Well, it's got legs.  This nonsense bagan last spring in San Mateo County.  The notion is that if the government forbids  fast-food restaurants from using toys and similar items to induce kids to order meals there, childhood obesity will fall.  As I anticipated at the time, this will likely become a windfall for trial lawyers.

San Francisco Bans Toys in Restaurant Meals

In a purported attempt to reduce childhood obesity, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has voted to ban toys and similar inducements that restaurants use to promote kids' menus.

This is the result of lobbying by the city's bloated and ambitious public-health bureaucracy, and a completely wrong-headed investment of political energy, as I wrote in the local newspaper back in September, when the ban was first proposed.

San Francisco's Fast-Food Toy-Ban Good for Bureaucracy, Not Waistlines

A few weeks ago, Santa Clara County passed a measure intended to reduce child obesity by fining restaurants for offering toys as part of meal promotions. San Francisco has responded with a similar measure that won’t help the kids slim down, but is guaranteed to fatten up already-bloated government.

The real force behind this legislation is the Public Health Department, which has been growing for the past three years, fueled by the Healthy San Francisco program. This program taxes small businesses, primarily restaurants and retailers, that can’t afford to offer health benefits.

The public health bureaucracy devoured $36 million of these taxes, for fiscal year 2008-09, while spending only $11 million reimbursing medical providers and pharmacies. The rest went to nonmedical spending, including $8 million on salary and benefits for new bureaucratic positions.

Read my entire column at the San Francisco Examiner.

Whis is More Obese, San Francisco's Kids, or its Government?

Imagine this scene a year or two in our future: An inspector from the San Francisco Department of Public Health spots something shiny behind a restaurant freezer. He pulls out a plastic Iron Man™ action figure, which the manager claims belongs to his son. No dice – they haul him downtown for using toys to lure kids into his restaurant.

If Supervisors Eric Mar, David Campos, and David Chiu have their way, this embarrassing spectacle of political overreach will become reality. Their stated goal is to reduce childhood obesity, but will it work?

Read more in this month's Capital Ideas.

Cops Bust Hamburglar! Santa Clara County's Toy Ban

This month's Capital Ideas column, addressing Santa Clara County's banning toys with Happy Meals.