Restaurants Must Count Calories

A Starbucks whole milk mocha with whipped cream? That will be a bulging 420 calories. Big Mac, large fries and a Diet Coke? That's a whopping 1,130 calories to go, while a Burger King Whopper delivers 670 calories. Its beefier cousin, the Whopper Double Beef, almost doubles the calories, reaching 916.

As of next year, in a decree passed this month, restaurant chains in New York will be obliged to list calories on their menus. The regulation was passed by the New York City Board of Health as one of a series of measures to help prevent obesity.

With Americans increasingly eating out, health authorities are concerned that they are vulnerable to fatty foods. Most Americans get one third of their daily calorie intake from restaurant food, according to the Food and Drug Administration. A recent FDA study showed that women who eat at restaurants at least five times a week consume 300 more calories per day than those who eat at home.

The ruling, due to come into force in the summer, will affect about 10% of New York restaurants.

Recent studies show that few dieters use calorie intake as a guide. This may be in part because of confusion about just what a calorie is. The amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of water by one degree Celsius, when applied to food a calorie refers to the unit of energy produced by food in the body.

At Starbucks, which says it intends to comply with the regulations, the various mixtures of frothy, skinny, with wings syrup, whipped cream and crushed ice add up to 87,000 possible drink combinations. It could make for a very long menu.