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Calorie changes in large chain restaurants from 2008 to 2015.
Sara N Bleich1, Julia A Wolfson2, Marian P Jarlenski3
1Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Preventive Medicine
|April 9, 2017
Summary
Federal menu labeling legislation appears to be influencing chain restaurants to reduce calories. Chain restaurant menu items common from 2008 to 2015 saw a slight decrease in average calories.
Area of Science:
- Public Health Nutrition
- Health Policy Research
- Food Service Industry Analysis
Background:
- Federal menu labeling legislation, mandated by the Affordable Care Act of 2010, aimed to provide consumers with calorie information.
- Previous research lacked national data examining calorie trends in chain restaurants before and after this legislation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze trends in calorie content of menu items in large U.S. chain restaurants.
- To assess the impact of federal menu labeling legislation on restaurant offerings.
Main Methods:
- Utilized national data from the MenuStat project (2012-2015) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (2008).
- Included 44 of the 100 largest U.S. chain restaurants with data available across all years (2008, 2012-2015).
- Employed generalized linear models to compare calorie counts of menu items over time.
Main Results:
- Among menu items consistently available from 2008 to 2015, average calories decreased from 327 kcal to 318 kcal (p=0.03).
- No significant difference in mean calories was found for newly introduced menu items between 2012-2015 compared to items only available in 2008.
Conclusions:
- The federal menu labeling mandate may be influencing chain restaurants to offer lower-calorie options.
- Continued monitoring is essential to understand the long-term effects of menu labeling on public health outcomes.