99% of Kid’s Meals Are of Poor Nutritional Quality

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Given the importance of helping children eat healthier food, we wanted to share with you a brief report on the nutritional values of kid’s meals at America’s top chain restaurants that involved research by Salud America! advisor Dr. Mary Story.

The report, published in the journal Childhood Obesity, evaluated restaurants such as Arby’s, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Chili’s, McDonald’s, Sonic, Subway and more.

Of the 22 restaurants that had kid’s menus and available nutrition information, researchers found that 99 percent of 1,662 children’s meal combinations were of poor nutritional quality, based on key nutrition recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

At 15 of the chains, 100 percent of kid’s meal combinations failed to meet recommendations.

Kid’s meals ranged from 200 to 1,580 calories, with the average meal containing 740 calories, about 300 more than the standard (430 calories) for a single meal.

Story and her colleagues concluded that restaurants should support healthier choices for children by reformulating existing menu items and adding new healthier items, posting calories on menus, and setting nutrition standards for marketing to children.

Read more on topics like this among Latinos here from Salud America!, which is led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday.