On November 25, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required restaurants, retail food establishments, vending machines, and even movie theaters, to include calorie count in their menus. The purpose of this petition is to propose a rule that will include nutritional information such as a nutritional value number or general nutritional facts on menus rather than calories; and have calorie information available upon request. Merely having calorie count on menus can make people who are clueless about nutrition even more clueless about it because they get a false idea of what it is. Calorie count can also be harmful to several groups in the U.S. such as people with or recovering from eating disorders, people susceptible to eating disorders, and those with health problems. Although individuals with eating disorders make up less then 5% of the U.S. population, they are still valuable citizens that matter; especially as they are an alarmingly growing population. Requiring calorie count sends off a message that people should consume less and that being thin automatically equates to being healthy. This makes impressionable children and adolescents especially susceptible to developing eating disorders when considering the constant body-shaming messages emitted by the media and society in general. Having nutritional information will be very useful for those with health concerns such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease, which the rule was originally aimed for. Knowing information such as how much sugar, sodium, cholesterol, etc. is in food and drinks is more useful than vague information such as calories. Knowing how much iron,vitamins, etc is in food and drinks is also very beneficial to people with deficiencies such as Anemia or vitamin deficiencies. Nutritional information is ultimately more valuable to people than calorie count, however, for those who need it calorie information can be available on request.
