Tucker Anna C, Mueller Megan P, Taillie Lindsey Smith, Block Jason P, Leung Cindy W, Wolfson Julia A
Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Am J Prev Med. 2025 Feb;68(2):327-335. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2024.10.013. Epub 2024 Oct 25.
Chain restaurants are ubiquitous in the U.S. While restaurants are increasingly promoting health- and climate-conscious menu options, few studies have examined whether restaurants are increasing availability of menu items with lower climate impact and whether these offerings are healthier. This study examines trends in the availability and nutritional profile of food items featuring different meat sources on menus at 75 large chain restaurants in the U.S. from 2013 to 2021.
Longitudinal data on menu items from 75 large U.S. chain restaurants from 2013 to 2021 were obtained from MenuStat.org, an online database of menu items from the largest-grossing restaurant chains in the U.S. Annual counts and proportions of food items featuring different meat sources were calculated overall, by food category, and by restaurant type. Differences in predicted mean calories between meat-based items and meat-free items were calculated (overall, by restaurant type, by year) using linear regression models with clustered standard errors.
Availability and calorie content of meat-based versus meat-free items were generally stable over time. Availability of chicken-containing items increased and there was an absolute reduction in the availability of beef-containing menu items (p-trends<0.001). Total calories and calories from protein, unsaturated fat, and saturated fat were lower among meat-free items versus meat-based items. However, calories from sugar were higher for meat-free items.
While meat-free items had fewer calories and some aspects of nutritional profile were more favorable, the availability of meat-free menu items has not increased in large chain restaurants, suggesting limited improvement on reducing climate impact.
连锁餐厅在美国随处可见。尽管餐厅越来越多地推广注重健康和气候的菜单选项，但很少有研究考察餐厅是否增加了气候影响较低的菜品供应，以及这些菜品是否更健康。本研究调查了2013年至2021年美国75家大型连锁餐厅菜单上不同肉类来源菜品的供应趋势和营养状况。
2013年至2021年美国75家大型连锁餐厅菜品的纵向数据来自MenuStat.org，这是一个美国营收最高的连锁餐厅菜品在线数据库。总体上、按食品类别以及按餐厅类型计算了不同肉类来源菜品的年度数量和比例。使用带有聚类标准误差的线性回归模型计算了肉类菜品和无肉菜品之间预测平均卡路里的差异（总体上、按餐厅类型、按年份）。
随着时间的推移，肉类菜品和无肉菜品的供应情况和卡路里含量总体上较为稳定。含鸡肉菜品的供应增加，含牛肉菜品的供应绝对减少（p趋势<0.001）。无肉菜品的总卡路里以及来自蛋白质、不饱和脂肪和饱和脂肪的卡路里低于肉类菜品。然而，无肉菜品的糖卡路里更高。
虽然无肉菜品的卡路里较少，营养状况的某些方面更有利，但大型连锁餐厅中无肉菜品的供应并未增加，这表明在减少气候影响方面的改善有限。
