To all citizens concerned about public health. With the help of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (please go to: www.cspinet.org and order a year of their FANTASTIC “Nutrition Action” Healthletter!) I have sent the following letter to my US congressional and senate representatives! Please read it, support Senator Harkin’s MEAL ACT, and consider writing a letter yourself…and feel free to use whatever content in my letter that is appropriate and which you feel comfortable! Thank you!

Dear US Congressional Representatives,
In my capacity as the Medical Director for Metabolic Nutrition and Weight Management at St Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital,
Board Certified Physician Nutrition Specialist, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Chief Medical Advisor to the world renown Pritikin Longevity Center in south Florida – but most importantly as a seriously concerned citizen – I URGE you to cosponsor Senator Tom Harkin and Representative Rosa DeLauros’s Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) Act. The MEAL Act, as OPPOSED TO THE LEAN Act (see below), would provide nutrition information on chain restaurant menus and menu boards. Menu labeling as described is URGENTLY NEEDED and would allow Americans to make informed choices and take responsibility for their nutrition and, as such, chronic disease risk, when eating out.

This bill is in VERY HIGH demand, as Americans eat out more and are increasingly concerned about health and nutrition; Almost EIGHTY PERCENT of people support menu labeling.

Without menu labeling, no one can tell that a TenderCrisp Chicken Sandwich (790 calories) at Burger King has more calories than a Whopper (670 calories), or that a large chocolate milkshake at McDonald’s (1,160) has, believe it or not, more than double the calories of a Big Mac (560)!

Finding nutrition information in a restaurant should NOT be a scavenger hunt! The information should be in the same place in each restaurant- on the menu! Only if its on the menu, where people are already getting the other information they need to order like product descriptions and prices, is there any hope of nutritional information potentially being one of the tools that will help stem the tide against our otherwise unrelenting twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity – which is costing us billions of dollars and thousands upon thousands of lives.

When nutrition information is posted on websites, tray liners, or brochures, customers (like myself) can’t find the information or use it at the point when we are deciding what to order and, therefore, becomes virtually useless as far as a public health protection and information tool.

The MEAL Act, sponsored by Representative DeLauro and Senator Harkin, would provide nutrition information on chain restaurant menus and menu boards where it is easy to find and use. The MEAL Act is supported by major health organizations.

The restaurant industry-supported LEAN Act would undermine the purpose of providing nutrition information, which is to give consumers easy-to-use, easy-to-locate information at the point of ordering. The most significant difference between the MEAL Act and the LEAN Act is that under LEAN, nutrition information would not be required to be posted on the menu. Restaurants would have the option to post information through a variety of formats that people rarely see. LEAN also would overturn existing menu labeling policies and prevent other states and localities from passing restaurant labeling policies. The LEAN Act is supported by the restaurant industry, but most health organizations and experts oppose this legislation, and – in the strongest terms – I do as well.

Again, I urge you to cosponsor the MEAL Act and oppose the LEAN Act. Thank you for your time and please let me know if you will cosponsor the MEAL Act.

Sincerely,
Dr Tom Rifai