ArticleEuropean journal of clinical nutrition2021
Trends in the healthiness of U.S. fast food meals, 2008-2017.
Article in European journal of clinical nutrition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Adherence to voluntary UK sugar, salt, and calorie reduction targets in the highest-grossing restaurant chains: A cross-sectional study.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Trends in Hypertension Prevalence and Control in the United States Over 25 Years.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2026Article
- Influence of the food environment on obesity risk in a large cohort of US veterans by community type.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2024Article
- Cooking at Home, Fast Food, Meat Consumption, and Dietary Carbon Footprint among US Adults.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study aimed to examine trends in the healthiness of U.S. fast food restaurant meals from 2008 to 2017, using the American Heart Association's Heart-Check meal certification criteria.
methodsData were obtained from MenuStat, an online database of the leading 100 U.S. restaurant chains menu items, for the years 2008 and 2012 through 2017. All possible meal combinations (entrées + sides) were created at the 20 fast food restaurants that reported entrée and side calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, protein, and fiber. Chi-square tests compared the percent of meals meeting each American Heart Association (AHA) nutrient criterion; and the number of AHA criteria met for each year, by menu focus type.
resultsCompared with 2008, significantly fewer fast food meals met the AHA calorie criterion in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and significantly fewer met the AHA total fat criterion in 2015 and 2016. Significantly more meals met the AHA trans fat criterion from 2012 to 2017, compared to 2008. There were no significant changes over time in the percent of meals meeting AHA criteria for saturated fat, cholesterol, or sodium.
conclusionsEfforts to improve the healthiness of fast food meals should focus on reducing calories, total fat, saturated fat, and sodium.
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Registered trials
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