The LA Times reports that last week, “[t]wo federal lawmakers have introduced legislation to require fast-food and other chain restaurants to post calories on menu boards and food display tags.” This bill, known as the MEAL Act (Menu Education and Labeling Act), is designed to “Help consumers make more informed choices.”

The article mentions that the restaurant industry has proposed an alternative bill, known as the LEAN Act (Labeling Education and Nutrition Act), which would only require chains with more than 20 units to implement the new labeling requirements. It would also preempt future state or local regulatory measures.

Both measures are supposed to help consumers make healthier choices. But calling for improved labeling of restaurant food ignores the basic fact that humans aren’t designed to eat burgers and fries. As Dr. Donald Coffey of The Johns Hopkins University puts it, “we were not biologically selected by the evolution process to eat the way we do today, and the damage is manifested.” One clear manifestation is the fact that two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight.

Rather than picking the 500-calorie burger instead of the 750-calorie one, many consumers would be better off focusing on the nutrition their bodies - or, drilling down a little further, their genes - really need. That’s the whole idea behind epigenetic nutrition: helping people obtain the nutrition their genes are designed for.