Consumers' girth won't be fixed in the courts

By STEVEN C. ANDERSON
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Suing a restaurant will not solve any American's obesity problem. Unfortunately, we are becoming a nation of couch potatoes, and the solution to this serious and complex issue lies not in litigation but in nutritional and physical education.
The restaurant industry is an industry of choice, and health experts agree that all foods can be part of a healthy diet. Critics say Americans are not capable of making their own food decisions. But 95 percent of consumers feel they are perfectly qualified to do so. The challenge is to be sure all individuals truly understand that maintaining a healthy weight means balancing energy in and energy out.
Restaurants provide options to fit anyone's dietary needs and preferences. The menus are, and always have been, dictated by consumer demand rather than the threat of frivolous lawsuits. In fact, nine of 10 Americans agree such lawsuits are baseless. The only real beneficiaries to the obesity lawsuits the House voted to outlaw in the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act are the trial lawyers, attempting to enrich themselves at the expense of the restaurant industry's 12 million hardworking individuals.
The solution to obesity will not be found in courts, nor in quick-fix actions that don't address the root of the problem. Some advocates push for simplistic, mandatory nutritional labeling on menus. But cooking is an art, not a science, and a restaurant meal is not a can of peas. The one-size-fits-all labels promoted by industry critics are nearly impossible for some restaurants to create and even harder to keep accurate.
The better approach is to add menu items based on demand and voluntarily provide nutritional information in brochures, posters and Web sites -- which many restaurants already do. Most restaurants also welcome requests to customize menu items, which 75 percent of consumers, in fact, do.
The Department of Health and Human Services recently launched a campaign to help Americans make choices for healthier lives. We support these efforts and will continue to offer increasingly health-conscious Americans exactly what they want -- more nutritious options to choose from at their favorite restaurants.
Finger-pointing does nothing to find real solutions to obesity. Nutrition literacy is the better way.
XSteven C. Anderson is president and chief executive officer of the National Restaurant Association. He wrote this for the New York Daily News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.