To address public health concerns about the negative impact of children’s fast food consumption, some of the largest U.S. fast-food restaurants – McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Wendy’s, KFC, and Dairy Queen – have pledged to remove sugar-sweetened fountain drinks from menu boards and/or offer healthier drinks and side dishes with kids’ meals. In the current study, researchers evaluated implementation of healthier kids’ meal pledges by analyzing: (1) kids’ meal drink and side items listed on restaurants’ websites; (2) kids’ meal drink and side items listed and pictured on menu boards and featured on signs inside and outside restaurants; and (3) drinks and sides offered by restaurant personnel at the point-of-sale with kids’ meal orders. The study found that in 2016 kids’ meal menus posted on restaurants’ websites consistently reflected their pledges and that individual restaurants at all chains consistently listed healthier drink options on kids’ meal menu boards inside the restaurants. However, not all individual restaurants removed sugary soda and other soft drink options from kids’ meal menu boards. In addition, while most restaurants visited listed at least on healthier side item on kids’ meal menu boards, restaurant chains varied in how often staff offered healthier sides with kids’ meal orders. Restaurants with publicly available healthier kids’ meal policy statements were more likely to offer healthier drinks and sides with kids’ meal orders.
Are Fast-Food Restaurants Keeping Their Promises to Offer Healthier Kids’ Meals?
Published: August 2017
ID #: CAS034
Publisher: University of Connecticut, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
Authors: Harris J, Hyary M, Seymour N, Choi Y
Focus Areas: Beverages, Food Access
State: National
Age Groups: Preschool-age children (ages 3 to 5), Elementary-age children (grades K to 5), Young adolescents (grades 6 to 8)
Resource Type: Report
Keywords: Fast food, Nutrition standards, Restaurant, Self-regulation, Sugar-sweetened beverages
Related Research
September 2018
Parents’ Reports of Fast-Food Purchases for Their Children: Have They Improved?
Few research studies have examined the menu items that parents purchase for their children at fast-food restaurants or their attitudes about healthier kids’ meals. The purpose of this research was to document specific menu items that parents reported purchasing for their children at the top fast-food restaurant chains, attitudes about … More
March 2016
Evaluating Healthy Fast-Food Kids’ Meal Defaults
This project will determine whether restaurants have implemented healthier kids’ meal default policies and whether healthy defaults successfully reduce calories and improve the overall nutritional quality of fast-food meals consumed by children. The team will conduct two studies to update research conducted in 2010 and 2013 and measure change over … More
October 2020
Identifying geographic differences in children’s sugar‐sweetened beverage and 100% fruit juice intake using health system data
This study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of using health system data to examine the geographic distribution of sugar‐sweetened beverage intake and evaluate neighborhood characteristics associated with intake. Researchers extracted electronic health record data from a sugar‐sweetened beverage and 100% fruit juice screener used for children ages 1 to 17 years in … More