A Los Angeles Police Department helicopter surveys the Hollywood sign in Hollywood, California October 22, 2006. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -
Los Angeles residents are notorious
for worrying about their waistlines and if two Los Angeles
County Supervisors have it their way, calorie counting while
dining out in the city may get easier.

Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael Antonovich will
present a proposed ordinance to the Los Angeles Board of
Supervisors next week that would force fast-food chains and
restaurants to display the number of calories alongside the
price of items on their menus.

The proposed law is intended to decrease obesity among
adults and children in America's second-largest city.

While Los Angeles has a reputation as a mecca of diet and
exercise crazes, the county's Department of Public Health says
residents are less fit than many realize.

The percentage of obese adults in Los Angeles County
increased 46 percent over eight years, to 20.9 percent in 2005
from 14.3 percent in 1997, according to the department.

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

New York already has a similar ordinance in place.
Fast-food and casual-dining chains in the Big Apple can be
fined $2,000 for not displaying calorie counts.

The California Restaurant Association, an industry trade
group, is skeptical about whether the ordinance will actually
tackle L.A's obesity problem.

“If we're going to fight obesity we need to teach folks
about nutrition and proper eating,” CRA spokesman Daniel Conway
said. “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.”

The association has sued two Northern California counties
for passing similar laws.

The industry group says its bill, which is to be voted on
in the California legislature by the end of the month, will
give restaurants statewide the choice of whether to make
nutritional information available either on a brochure or in a
menu.

“We recognize our customers do want this information, but
most of the customers don't want this information forced on
them every time. It's as much as a mandate on our customers as
it is on our restaurants,” Conway said.