Our Transparency Initiative

Written by Andrew Preval

In brief

Heart disease, stroke and diabetes are the world’s leading causes of death, and unhealthy diet is one of the main risks behind them.
In Brockton, about 1 in 3 adults has high blood pressure and about 1 in 8 has been diagnosed with diabetes.
Large chains must post calories. Small local restaurants do not, and about a third of U.S. adults do not know how many calories they need in a day.
Statewell is offering Brockton restaurants free nutrition information and menu evaluations, and releasing pamphlets in Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole and other languages. Restaurants outside Brockton can apply too.

Statewell Consulting is working on a huge problem. It is a problem that every one of the more than 8 billion people on Earth will eventually face. That problem is death.

Around the world, long-term illnesses like heart disease, stroke and diabetes are the leading causes of death. These illnesses killed around 43 million people in 2021, and heart disease and stroke alone accounted for at least 19 million of those deaths (World Health Organization).

Unhealthy diet is one of the main risks behind them. About 1.4 billion adults have high blood pressure, and 44% of them do not know it. Too much salt, diets high in saturated and trans fats, and too few fruits and vegetables are among the main risk factors (World Health Organization).

Here in Brockton, about 1 in 3 adults has high blood pressure, about 1 in 3 has obesity, and about 1 in 8 has been diagnosed with diabetes. One in four adults faced food insecurity in the past year (CDC).

There is also demand for this information at restaurants. In the FDA’s 2019 national survey, 70% of U.S. adults had seen calorie information on menus, and 53% of those who saw it used it, most often to avoid high-calorie items (FDA). This kind of information can help different communities be more aware of what they put in their bodies, for longer and healthier lives.

Fortunately, the FDA requires restaurants to display calories on menus and menu boards. Written nutrition information must also be available upon request, listing the calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, sugars and protein of any item on the menu. Menus must also state that 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice, but calorie needs vary. These menu-labeling requirements, however, only apply to chains with 20 or more locations, which means large franchises rather than small local businesses (FDA).

About a third of U.S. adults do not accurately know their typical daily calorie needs, according to the FDA’s 2019 nationally representative survey. That knowledge is divided by race and ethnicity: 55% of non-Hispanic Black adults gave an incorrect estimate of their daily calorie needs, compared with 34% of Hispanic adults and 26% of non-Hispanic white adults (Lando et al., 2021).

This is where we start to see the problem. It is not simply that people are being fed bad food. It is that they are not being given the knowledge they need about the food they eat. We plan to fill that gap.

Small restaurants are not required to count calories, and many people in our community were never given nutrition education, so they are left without the information they need. At Statewell, we support the need for more transparency. Our community deserves to know how it can improve its health, and that is what we stand for.

For this initiative, we are taking action.

For the time being, we are offering free services to help any restaurant in the city of Brockton add nutritional information to its menu. That includes a free menu evaluation, so small restaurants can meet the same standard the FDA sets for large chains, even though they are not required to. We are starting here in Brockton, our home, but restaurants in other cities and towns are welcome to reach out as well, and we will look at each one case by case.

We are also releasing pamphlets in Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole and other languages, so more of our neighbors can read them.

If you run a restaurant in Brockton, or anywhere else, email andrewpreval@statewell.ink to get started. If you know someone who would use this information, share it with them.

This post is for general information and is not medical advice.

Sources