In an attempt to curb obesity rates, Los Angeles could be the next city after New York to adopt a calorie-counting legislation for its restaurants.

According to the Department of Public Health, the percentage of obese adults in Los Angeles increased from 14.3 percent in 1997 to 20.9 percent in 2005, meaning a 46 percent increase over an eight-year period.

These statistics clearly ask for an urgent measure and showing people the number of calories in their food might be an effective way to change their minds about some of the foods they eat. This way, the authorities believe they will succeed to curb obesity rates, which have reached an alarming point in the history of the US.

A study released this week by the Center for Science in the Public Interest revealed that most meals offered to kids at the fast food are unhealthy and loaded with too many calories and too much sodium. To be more specific, the study revealed that 93 percent of the 1,474 fast food meals analyzed had more than 430 calories, the number of calories recommended for a single meal in kids’ case.

This finding makes you wonder… If kids’ meals are too high in calories, this means that adults’ meals make no exception, which means that here is the reason lying behind the high obesity rates.

In order to prevent more adults from becoming obese and to encourage people to adopt a more healthier diet, Los Angeles County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael Antonovich plan to introduce an ordinance at next week’s Board of Supervisors meeting that would force restaurants to put the calorie count along with the price of items on their menus.

“The menu should be as informative of what its effect is on one's waistline as it is on their pocketbooks. Not ingesting 800 calories in a meal makes a huge difference to one's health and quality of life,” Yaroslavsky said.

New York restaurants refusing to post the number of calories on their menus can be fined $2,000.

The California Restaurant Association was not pleased with the ordinance being skeptical about its power to reduce obesity rates.

“If we’re going to fight obesity we need to teach folks about nutrition and proper eating. I question whether this ordinance will have a real meaningful impact on people’s behavior in terms of what they eat and how much they exercise,” CRA representative Daniel Conway said.

The request of such measure comes a moth after California lawmakers passed statewide restrictions on trans fats. Also, last week, city officials announced a yearlong moratorium on fast-food restaurants in South Los Angeles.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to approve drafting the ordinance Tuesday, then vote on the issue in September. If passed, the changes would take effect before the end of the year.