TY - JOUR
T1 - Calorie and nutrient trends in large U.S. Chain restaurants, 2012-2018
AU - Bleich, Sara N.
AU - Soto, Mark J.
AU - Dunn, Caroline Glagola
AU - Moran, Alyssa J.
AU - Block, Jason P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Bleich et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2020/2/1
Y1 - 2020/2/1
N2 - Introduction Large chain restaurants reduced calories in their newly-introduced menu items from 2012 to 2015. The objective of this study was to provide updated calorie trends through 2018 and examine trends in the macronutrient composition of menu items across this time period. Methods and findings Data were obtained from the MenuStat project and include 66 of the 100 largest revenue generating U.S. chain restaurants (N = 28,238 items) that had data available in all years from 2012 to 2018. Generalized linear models were used to examine per-item calorie and nutrient changes (saturated fat, trans fat, unsaturated fat, sugar, non-sugar carbohydrates, protein, sodium) among (1) items on the menu in all years (common items) and (2) newly introduced items (2013–2018). Overall, there were no significant changes in calories or nutrients among common items from 2012 to 2018. Among all newly introduced items, calories (-120 kcals, -25%, p = 0.01; p-for-trend = 0.02), saturated fat (-3.4g, -41%, p<0.01, p-for-trend = 0.06), unsaturated fat (-4.5g, -37%, p = 0.02; p-for-trend = 0.04), non-sugar carbohydrates (-10.3g, -40%, p = 0.02, p-for-trend = 0.69), and protein (-4.3g, -25%, p = 0.04, p-for-trend = 0.02) declined. Conclusion Newly introduced menu items in large chain restaurants have continued to decline in calories through 2018, which may help to reduce calorie intake. Other changes in macronutrient content were sporadic and not clearly toward improved dietary quality.
AB - Introduction Large chain restaurants reduced calories in their newly-introduced menu items from 2012 to 2015. The objective of this study was to provide updated calorie trends through 2018 and examine trends in the macronutrient composition of menu items across this time period. Methods and findings Data were obtained from the MenuStat project and include 66 of the 100 largest revenue generating U.S. chain restaurants (N = 28,238 items) that had data available in all years from 2012 to 2018. Generalized linear models were used to examine per-item calorie and nutrient changes (saturated fat, trans fat, unsaturated fat, sugar, non-sugar carbohydrates, protein, sodium) among (1) items on the menu in all years (common items) and (2) newly introduced items (2013–2018). Overall, there were no significant changes in calories or nutrients among common items from 2012 to 2018. Among all newly introduced items, calories (-120 kcals, -25%, p = 0.01; p-for-trend = 0.02), saturated fat (-3.4g, -41%, p<0.01, p-for-trend = 0.06), unsaturated fat (-4.5g, -37%, p = 0.02; p-for-trend = 0.04), non-sugar carbohydrates (-10.3g, -40%, p = 0.02, p-for-trend = 0.69), and protein (-4.3g, -25%, p = 0.04, p-for-trend = 0.02) declined. Conclusion Newly introduced menu items in large chain restaurants have continued to decline in calories through 2018, which may help to reduce calorie intake. Other changes in macronutrient content were sporadic and not clearly toward improved dietary quality.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079212972&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85079212972&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0228891
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0228891
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32040526
AN - SCOPUS:85079212972
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 2
M1 - e0228891
ER -