Want fast foods for kids with lower calories? Read labels!

William Atkins
Monday, 25 January 2010 21:23

Science - Health

A first-of-its-kind study performed in the U.S. has found that fast foods that clearly state caloric content can significantly reduce the number of calories consumed by children over those that don’t post such information.


Their paper “Nutrition Menu Labeling May Lead to Lower-Calorie Restaurant Meal Choices for Children” (doi:10.1542/peds.2009-1117) appeared online on January 25, 2010, in the journal Pediatrics.

The U.S. researchers wanted to find out if nutritional labeling on fast-food menus could lower the number of calories that children took in when eating at fast-food restaurants.

They used parents of children who were of the ages of three to six years. The parents were required to have eaten at fast-food restaurants in the past.

The research was carried out based on appointments made at a Seattle, Washington primary care pediatric clinic.

The menu used for this study was from a McDonald’s menu that included current prices and pictures of the menu items.

The choices included most of the items sold at McDonald’s, including hamburgers and other sandwiches, salads and dressings, beverages, desserts, and the McDonald’s Happy Meal.

In all 99 adult participants were asked to select meals for themselves and their children off of the McDonald’s menu.

Two types of menus were used: one contained nutritional information about the foods offered on the menu and the other did not contain such information.

Half of the parents were given one menu and the other half the other menu.

Page two continues the results of the study.