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Soon when you order from Pizza Hut, Taco Bell or KFC, you'll be able to see how many calories you'll eat. It will be posted on the indoor menu. But will this move keep customers from eating?
Nutritionists say posting calorie information might not make everyone eat better, but it's better than nothing.
University of Utah Nutrition Professor Beth Wolfgram said, "It's a great start for helping people become educated about what they're eating and the types of choices that they have."
So, if you walk into a KFC and order an extra crispy breast and wing meal with mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, one biscuit and a medium Pepsi, you'll know exactly how many calories you're eating. Wolfgram says this is information that fast food chains haven't been eager to share.
"I think that's probably one of the reasons why it has been leery about doing something like this is that they think this is going to affect the bottom line," she said.
To see if that were true, I went to a nearby Taco Bell and asked people what they normally get.
One woman said she loves the crispy tacos, so she gets two of them. That adds up to 340 calories, to which she said, "Yeah, 340 is not that bad is it?"
One man said he always gets the Burrito Supreme. I asked if he would still get it knowing it had 440 calories. He said, "No." So, it appears posting the calorie information would convince some people not to eat what they normally do.
But Wolfgram says caloric intake is just one part of the big nutrition picture.
"You could have something that's high in calories, like peanut butter compared to jelly. Compare the two and you'd think, ‘Oh, jelly has less calories.' But, peanut butter is very nutritive. It's got protein, fiber and heart-healthy fat," she said.
She also says eating fast food is fine, as long as it's only about twice a month.
"In moderation, having a Big Mac is fine, having fries, having a shake, enjoying KFC, that's fine in moderation," she said. "What is our challenge in our country is that people eat out two-thirds of the time."
By the way, an extra crispy breast and wing meal with mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, one biscuit and a medium Pepsi comes to just over 1,200 calories.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
