Published: June 2013

ID #: 68383

Journal: Am J Prev Med

Authors: Hearst MO, Harnack LJ, Bauer KW, Earnest AA, French SA, Oakes JM

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This article assesses trends in the nutritional quality of menu offerings in eight U.S. fast-food restaurant chains from 1997/1998 to 2009/2010. Researchers calculated Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2005 scores for each restaurant as a measure of the extent to which menu offerings were consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and compared the scores over time. They found that the nutritional quality of menu offerings across the eight fast-food restaurants have modestly improved over the past decade, increasing from an HEI-2005 score of 45 in 1997/1998 to 48 in 2009/2010. However, despite the improvements made by most of the restaurants in this analysis, there continues to be a substantial disparity between fast-food menu offerings and many of the components of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

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