One component of the Affordable Care Act in the news these days is a requirement that vending machines display the calorie count for each of the items available for sale. The idea is that knowledgeable consumers will consume fewer calories, curbing an epidemic of obesity in our country and resulting in lower healthcare costs. The vending machine industry is uniformly unhappy with this new requirement given the not insignificant costs associated with this change.

Here is my question for you. In your experience, is the display of calorie count a deterrent? I know that to some degree it is for me but I have to say I do wonder if on the scale of a vending machine it will have the same impact.