TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence and nutrient composition of menu offerings targeted to customers with dietary restrictions at U.S. fast casual and full-service restaurants
AU - Hua, Sophia V.
AU - Soto, Mark J.
AU - Dunn, Caroline G.
AU - Bleich, Sara N.
AU - Vercammen, Kelsey A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Authors 2021.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Objective: To examine the prevalence and nutrient composition of menu offerings targeted to customers with dietary restrictions at U.S. fast casual and full-service chain restaurants. Design: We used 2018 data from MenuStat, a database of nutrient information for menu items at large U.S. chain restaurants. Five alternative diets were examined: Gluten-free, low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, low-fat, and vegetarian. Diet offerings were identified by searching MenuStat item descriptions and reviewing online menus. For each diet, we reported counts and proportions. We used bootstrapped multilevel models to examine differences in predicted mean kilojoules, saturated fat, Na, and sugars between diet and non-diet menu items. Setting: 45 U.S. fast casual and full-service chain restaurants in 2018 (including 6419 items in initial analytic sample across small plates, salads, and main dishes). Participants: None. Results: The most prevalent diets were gluten-free (n=631, 9.8% of menu items), low-calorie (n=306, 4.8%), and vegetarian (n=230, 3.6%). Compared to non-diet counterparts, low-calorie main dishes had significantly lower levels of all nutrients examined, and vegetarian main dishes had significantly lower levels of all nutrients except saturated fat. Gluten-free small plates had significantly fewer kilojoules, grams of saturated fat, and milligrams of Na compared to non-diet small plates. Conclusions: A small proportion of fast casual and full-service restaurant menus are targeted toward customers with dietary restrictions. Compared to non-diet items, those classified as gluten-free, low-calorie, or vegetarian generally have healthier nutrient profiles, but overall nutrient values are still too high for most menu items, regardless of dietary label.
AB - Objective: To examine the prevalence and nutrient composition of menu offerings targeted to customers with dietary restrictions at U.S. fast casual and full-service chain restaurants. Design: We used 2018 data from MenuStat, a database of nutrient information for menu items at large U.S. chain restaurants. Five alternative diets were examined: Gluten-free, low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, low-fat, and vegetarian. Diet offerings were identified by searching MenuStat item descriptions and reviewing online menus. For each diet, we reported counts and proportions. We used bootstrapped multilevel models to examine differences in predicted mean kilojoules, saturated fat, Na, and sugars between diet and non-diet menu items. Setting: 45 U.S. fast casual and full-service chain restaurants in 2018 (including 6419 items in initial analytic sample across small plates, salads, and main dishes). Participants: None. Results: The most prevalent diets were gluten-free (n=631, 9.8% of menu items), low-calorie (n=306, 4.8%), and vegetarian (n=230, 3.6%). Compared to non-diet counterparts, low-calorie main dishes had significantly lower levels of all nutrients examined, and vegetarian main dishes had significantly lower levels of all nutrients except saturated fat. Gluten-free small plates had significantly fewer kilojoules, grams of saturated fat, and milligrams of Na compared to non-diet small plates. Conclusions: A small proportion of fast casual and full-service restaurant menus are targeted toward customers with dietary restrictions. Compared to non-diet items, those classified as gluten-free, low-calorie, or vegetarian generally have healthier nutrient profiles, but overall nutrient values are still too high for most menu items, regardless of dietary label.
KW - gluten-free
KW - low-calorie
KW - Nutrient composition
KW - vegetarian
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U2 - 10.1017/S1368980021000112
DO - 10.1017/S1368980021000112
M3 - Article
C2 - 33431097
AN - SCOPUS:85099344710
JO - Public Health Nutrition
JF - Public Health Nutrition
SN - 1368-9800
ER -