Health and Wellness Department, University of North Carolina, Asheville, Asheville, NC, USA.
Child Obes. 2012 Jun;8(3):251-4. doi: 10.1089/chi.2012.0016.
We evaluated the nutritional quality of children's meals at chain restaurants, because children obtain about a third of their daily calories from away-from-home foods and studies show that restaurant foods are often higher in calories and lower in nutritional value than foods prepared at home.
We assessed the nutritional quality of children's meals at the 50 largest U.S. restaurant chains by visiting each chain's web site or calling the company. Eighteen of the chains did not have children's meals and 10 did not provide adequate nutrition information to be included in the study. The nutritional quality of each meal combination was evaluated against a set of nutrition standards based on key nutrition recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Of the 22 restaurants that had children's menus and available nutrition information, 99% of 1662 children's meal combinations were of poor nutritional quality.
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.
我们评估了连锁餐厅儿童餐的营养质量，因为儿童大约三分之一的日常卡路里来自外出就餐的食物，研究表明，与在家准备的食物相比，餐厅的食物通常热量更高，营养价值更低。
我们通过访问每家连锁店的网站或致电公司，评估了美国 50 家最大的连锁餐厅的儿童餐的营养质量。其中 18 家连锁店没有儿童餐，10 家没有提供足够的营养信息以供纳入研究。根据《美国人膳食指南》中的关键营养建议，我们根据营养标准来评估每种套餐组合的营养质量。
在有儿童菜单和可用营养信息的 22 家餐厅中，1662 种儿童餐组合中 99%的营养质量较差。
餐厅应该通过改进现有的菜单项目和增加新的更健康的项目、在菜单上标注卡路里以及为儿童营销制定营养标准来支持更健康的儿童选择。
