Calorie counts on menus don’t seem to have much effect on public health, or even on how many calories we consume at restaurants that display them, according to Aaron E. Carrol, who reviews studies in today’s NYT Upshot. He cites two interventions that have worked better: “training servers to ask if customers might like to downsize three starchy sides induced up to a third of customers to order and eat 200 fewer calories per meal,” and “changing the ‘prevalence, prominence and default nature of healthy options’ on children’s menus led to sustained changes in what people ordered.” He implies that these might be models for the sorts of policy prescriptions we should be trying.

He doesn’t say exactly what policy prescriptions he would support, but these sorts of nudges are hard to implement in the private sector, because businesses don’t like them, and often consumers don’t, either. Maybe we should try regardless. I just want to note that Democratism would offer alternative, more targeted, less intrusive solutions, putting market forces at the service of identified public health goals—less sugar in food at restaurants, for example, or fewer calories per serving. And because we the people would calibrate them directly, they wouldn’t be open to the usual criticisms of paternalism.

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