Conflict on the Menu

New York City’s new rules for menu labels at chain restaurants have set off a food fight among the nation’s obesity experts.

Most support the theory of the city’s health commissioner that forcing chain restaurants to list the calories alongside menu items — flagging that a Double Whopper With Cheese has 990 calories, for example — will make patrons think twice about ordering one. The rules are set to take effect at the end of March.

There is a countertheory, however, set forth by Dr. David B. Allison, the incoming president of the Obesity Society, a leading organization of obesity doctors and scientists. An affidavit he recently submitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has ignited a controversy within his organization.

In the filing, Dr. Allison argues that the new rules could backfire — whether by adding to the forbidden-fruit allure of high-calorie foods or by sending patrons away hungry enough that they will later gorge themselves even more.

“What harms (if any) might result” from the new rules? Dr. Allison wrote in the court filing. “That is difficult to predict.”

It might be only a scientific debate among nutrition experts, except for the fact that Dr. Allison was paid to write the document on behalf of the New York State Restaurant Association, which is suing to block the new rules.

Dr. Allison’s role in the debate has angered some members of the Obesity Society, setting off an e-mail fury since word of his court filing began to circulate. Some have pointed to Dr. Allison’s other industry ties, which have included advisory roles for Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods and Frito-Lay.

Many of the group’s 1,800 members are “completely mad that a president-elect of the Obesity Society, an organization that cares about obesity and cares about healthy eating, wants to hold back information from people that helps them make healthy choices,” said Dr. Barry M. Popkin, a member of the organization, who is director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Dr. Popkin has filed his own affidavit in the lawsuit, defending the city’s menu labeling plan.

The controversy highlights unresolved issues in the obesity field about industry ties and conflicts of interest, said Dr. Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. “The field is incapable of policing itself,” Dr. Brownell said.

Spurred by Dr. Allison’s affidavit, the obesity group released a statement on Tuesday supporting calorie labeling on menus. “The Obesity Society believes that more information on the caloric content of restaurant servings, not less, is in the interests of consumers,” said the statement by the society, which is based in Silver Spring, Md.

Dr. Allison, a professor of biostatistics and nutrition at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, is scheduled to start a one-year term as president of the Obesity Society in October. He has defended his affidavit. In a telephone interview, he said he did not take a position for or against menu labeling in the document but merely presented the scientific evidence that the labeling might deter over-eating but might not and, in fact, might be harmful.

He also defended his work for the restaurant industry, but would not disclose how much he was paid for his efforts.

“I’m happy to be involved in the pursuit for truth,” Dr. Allison said. “Sometimes, when I’m involved in the pursuit for truth, I’m hired by the Federal Trade Commission. Sometimes I help them. Sometimes I help a group like the restaurant industry. I’m honored that people think my opinion is sufficiently valued and expert.”

The executive vice president for the restaurant association’s metropolitan New York chapters, E. Charles Hunt, said that Dr. Allison was retained by the association’s lawyers. “Obviously, a lot of it was in favor of our position,” Mr. Hunt said, “although he didn’t come right out and say that.”

Dr. Allison’s 33-page affidavit cites a study that found that dieters who were distracted while eating and presented with information that food was high in calories were more likely to overeat.

“To the extent that many NY diners consume food from restaurants while in a state of distraction or performing distracting tasks,” he writes, “we might hypothesize that the belief that the food is especially high in calories would trigger disinhibited increased consumption.”

He also says that for some people, the deterrent of a high-calorie label might be short-lived and end up making them even hungrier and likely to eat even more later — “inadvertently encouraging patrons to consume lower-calorie foods that subsequently lead to greater total caloric intake because of poor satiating efficiency of the smaller calorie loads.”

Dr. Allison was quoted advancing similar arguments in 2006 during a breakfast meeting sponsored by Coca-Cola at an international conference of obesity experts in Sydney.

Dr. Allison, who disclosed at the meeting that he was a consultant to Coca-Cola on obesity issues, warned that policies to restrict certain foods might backfire, citing research showing that birds put on weight when food is scarce, according to a newsletter article about the conference.

The new labeling rules by New York City’s Board of Health have support from a cross section of organizations, including consumer groups like Public Citizen and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, as well as doctor groups like the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association.

While some chains already post calorie information on posters, fliers or on the Internet, public health officials argue that people may change their ordering habits or restaurants might change their menus if calorie labeling is more conspicuous.

The New York rule would require that chains with 15 or more restaurants nationally, including fast-food restaurants, put the information on their menus or menu boards.

This is the city’s second attempt to adopt such regulations. A judge struck down a menu-labeling plan last year, saying the law needed to be reworded. It has since been revised to comply with the judge’s order.

Similar requirements have been adopted in King County, Wash., which includes Seattle, and are under consideration by 21 other state and local governments.

New York’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, likened Dr. Allison’s claims to an argument that the world is flat.

“We don’t have 100 percent proof that it’s going to work, but we have a reasonable expectation it will be successful,” Dr. Frieden said.

“When places have to put ‘2,700 calories’ next to an appetizer,” Dr. Frieden said, “they might not have a 2,700-calorie appetizer anymore.”

By STEPHANIE SAUL