Say "no" to extreme eating!

Displaying restaurant offerings including a cheese-laden chicken-and-pasta dish they dubbed¹ "Angioplasta," officials at the Center for Science in the Public Interest said such dishes help fuel national epidemics³ of obesity⁴ and heart disease.

They urged local, state and national governments to make restaurants list nutritional⁵ data on their menus.

Michael Jacobson, the group's executive director, took aim at "table-service" chain restaurants like Ruby⁶ Tuesday's and Uno Chicago Grill⁷. Such places increasingly stuff their dishes with extra unhealthy ingredients, he said.

"What we're finding is that table-service restaurants have launched into a whole new era of extreme eating," Jacobson said. "If we're going to deal with the epidemic² of obesity and the tremendous prevalence of heart attacks and strokes, we're going to have to do something about restaurant foods."

Jacobson's group often criticizes at a variety of restaurant foods. Some critics deride⁸ the group as self-appointed food police.

Jacobson said restaurants have had more than enough time to voluntarily provide nutritional data such as calorie, fat and salt content but many do not.

"Restaurants have every right to make these foods and you have every right to eat them," Jacobson said. "But I think at the very least these restaurants should give consumers the information that would enable them to make some decent eating choices."