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Restaurant menus: calories, caloric density, and serving size
Mary J Scourboutakos1, Mary R L'Abbé
1Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
|August 18, 2012
Summary
Restaurant foods vary significantly in calorie content. Larger serving sizes, not caloric density, are the primary driver of higher calories in restaurant meals, impacting calorie labeling effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Nutrition Science
- Public Health
- Food Service Research
Background:
- Rising trend of dining out necessitates understanding restaurant food nutritional profiles.
- Concerns regarding adverse nutritional content of restaurant meals led to calorie labeling initiatives.
- Limited analysis exists on calorie content in sit-down versus fast-food establishments.
Purpose of the Study:
- Analyze calorie content in restaurant foods.
- Understand factors influencing calorie content to assess calorie labeling effectiveness.
Main Methods:
- Collected nutritional data from 85 major Canadian sit-down and fast-food restaurant websites in 2010.
- Analyzed 4178 menu items (side dishes, entrées, individual items) in 2011.
Main Results:
- Significant calorie variation observed within and across food categories.
- Sit-down restaurants exhibited higher calorie counts than fast-food restaurants (p<0.05).
- Serving size (r=0.62) was a stronger positive correlate of calories than caloric density (r=0.29).
Conclusions:
- Calorie content in restaurant foods varies by food type, establishment type, and specific restaurant.
- Serving size is a more significant determinant of calories per serving than caloric density in restaurant foods.
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