Introduction
Large chain restaurants have reduced calories in their new menu items. No research
has examined the calorie content of items eliminated from these menus.
Methods
Data are from the MenuStat project (2012–2015), which includes 66 of the 100 largest
U.S. chain restaurants (n=27,238 items), to compare: (1) mean calories for items on the menu in all years compared
with those dropped after 2012 and (2) mean calories for items new in 2013 or 2014
that stayed on the menu compared with items new in 2013 or 2014 that were dropped.
The data were analyzed in 2016.
Results
Menu items that were dropped from the menu relative to those on the menu in all years
had 71 more calories (p=0.02). New items that were dropped relative to new items that stayed on the menu
had 52 more calories (p=0.04).
Conclusions
Items dropped from chain restaurant menus are significantly higher in calories than
items that remain on the menu. Eliminating higher-calorie items from restaurant menus
may have a significant and positive impact on population health by reducing calorie
intake without relying on individual behavior, which is very resistant to change.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: December 11, 2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
