Reuters reports that federal government ”will roll back a widely criticized approach to public health, in which the ‘lost pleasure’ people might suffer if they quit smoking or chose to eat healthier foods was used to reduce the projected benefits of new regulations.”

U.S. Food and Drug Administration economists incorporated lost-pleasure calculations last year  “in analyzing proposed rules for e-cigarettes and the posting of calorie counts on restaurant menus. The agency said the analysis provided a more accurate picture of the estimated benefits of a regulation.”

But public-health advocates, legislators and other economists criticized the agency’s approach,  asserting that it was applied incorrectly and “sharply undercut the projected benefits of regulations meant to improve public health. Some feared it would weaken the government’s ability to defend such rules in court,” Reuters reported.