Doha residents can expect to see calories counts displayed on their favorite fast food items by this summer, the Peninsula reports.

Food chains said they are planning to comply to a request made by the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning to include calorie information on their menus or post them on a chart.

The ministry, which issued the request after Central Municipal Council members called for disclosure of such information, is expected to make calorie displays mandatory at a later date.

The Peninsula reports:

The directive, however, will likely be limited to fast food outlets, since the authorities believe that it is not easy to implement in the case of other eateries…

The CMC proposal has been widely welcomed as an important step towards fighting obesity. However, there are people who believe that merely displaying the calories may not help.

A study conducted in New York City following its pioneering law on posting calories in restaurant chains suggested that only 50 per cent of the people even noticed the addition of caloric values to the menus and only 28 per cent of the customers who noticed the values said the information had influenced their ordering choices.

What do you think?

Will knowing how many calories are in those burger and fries affect how often you eat them?