Kids' Menus At Restaurants No Healthier Than 5 Years Ago: Study

Kids' menus in the United States are just as unhealthy as they were in 2011, according to a new study by Havard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, despite the fact that many leading chain restaurants made a pledge that year to improve their offerings.

The study, published last week in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine from a team led by doctoral student Alyssa Moran, found that there were no significant improvements to reduce the calories, saturated fat and sodium of meals or the sugar content of drinks.

“Although some healthier options were available in select restaurants, there is no evidence that these voluntary pledges have had an industry-wide impact,” said Moran in press release. “As public health practitioners, we need to do a better job of engaging restaurants in offering and promoting healthy meals to kids.”

To carry out the study, the researchers used data from MenuStat, a survey of the nutritional information of over 150,000 restaurant menu items conducted by the New York state government.

The researchers focused on 45 out of the top 100 of the nation's restaurant chains. Fifteen of these restaurants participated in a program called Kids LiveWell from the National Restaurant Association that aimed to improve dietary offerings for children. Participation in the program was completely voluntary for the restaurants involved.

It doesn't seem to have worked as planned. The Harvard study found sugary drinks, for example, still make up 80 percent of the beverage options on kids' menus.

Long term consumption of these drinks can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and other health conditions, and consumption habits often form early in life. Some vendors removed soda options from their menus, but they replaced them with other sugary options.

"We have recently received this study and are currently reviewing it," said Leslie Shield, vice president of communications at the National Restaurant Association. "Kids Live Well was started to promote healthy eating among children, and we welcome any opportunity to encourage children to make healthy choices."

The authors of the study note that some restaurant have added healthier items to their menus, but the average meal still remains much less healthy than is ideal, particularly in terms of calorie counts, saturated fat content and salt levels.

"The authors would like to see the restaurant industry adhere to voluntary pledges and consider working with government agencies, researchers, and public health practitioners to apply evidence-based nutrition guidelines across a broader range of kids’ menu items," the study's press release said. "They also suggest tracking restaurant commitments to determine whether restaurants currently participating in Kids LiveWell improve the nutritional quality of their offerings over time."

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