Restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores, movie theaters and even vending machines are all required to display calorie counts for food

Restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores, movie theaters and even vending machines are all required to display calorie counts for food on menus as of Monday. This is one of the final rules to be enacted from the 2010 Affordable Care Act, aimed at reducing obesity rates and cutting health costs.Stores with at least 20 sites will be required to list calories on menus and menu boards, says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Restaurants will also have to provide on-site additional nutritional information, such as fat and sodium levels.The menu labeling rules will improve public health, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a CNN interview last week. He pointed to studies showing that enlightened customers order, on average, up to 50 fewer calories a day.While that equates to the calories in a small cookie, Gottlieb says, the impact compounded over weeks and months can deliver a large benefit."This is a meaningful, incremental step in addressing" the country's obesity epidemic, he says.Almost 37% of U.S. adults are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity raises the risk of preventable, life-threatening illnesses - including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.And in today’s busy world, Americans are eating and drinking about one-third of their calories away from home, FDA says.