The menus at your favorite restaurant may have to make room for calorie counts and nutrition content.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Though much of the political debate in Washington, DC, lately has focused on federal budget cuts for both this year and next, fights over the year-old health care law, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, are still bubbling up in pockets of Congress. Shortly after the 2011 budget was passed, the House of Representatives approved a measure in its 2012 budget proposal that would de-fund the health care bill, while Senate lawmakers have stated that such a measure won't survive.

As politicians continue to fight over whether or not the law will survive, however, various rules and requirements outlined in the legislation are being implemented. Examples include pre-existing condition insurance plans and, most recently, menu labeling that will require calorie counts at restaurants and on vending machines. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its first proposed guidelines for such labeling, which is intended to help battle the nation's growing obesity epidemic. Whether the labeling will help shrink our vast waistlines, however, is still up for debate.

THE DETAILS: Like similar laws that have already been implemented in New York City, Philadelphia, California, Massachusetts, and a number of other cities and states across the country, the FDA's regulations will require chain restaurants with more than 20 locations that serve the same types of food to post calorie counts on menus or menu boards, including at drive-throughs. Vending machines will also be required to list calories in close proximity to each article of food, either on the machine or "in the same field of vision" as the food the information relates to.

The laws exclude any establishment whose primary purpose is not to serve food, which leaves out a lot of places where calorie overload is problematic. Movie theaters and airplanes, for instance, won't have to disclose calorie counts on popcorn and other snacks, many of which can climb into the 2,000-calorie range.

WHAT IT MEANS: Because menu calorie labeling is so new, just a few studies have looked at how successful it is in curbing people's appetites for high-cal junk food, and while some studies have shown that calorie counts lead to healthier choices, others have not. "It certainly can't hurt," says Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine and health policy at New York University's School of Medicine and Wagner School of Public Service, "and it's a good idea, instead of doing nothing." Elbel authored a study in 2009 finding that calorie labeling didn't work among low-income populations: In his tests, just 9 percent of adults and teenagers said it influenced their food choices.