Who says Americans don’t care about their health?
Restaurants have been working hard to create healthier, lower calorie menus to tailor to the health conscious consumer.
Are they doing it for us or is there another reason? There’s been speculation that the change has come from federal regulations requiring restaurants to display calorie counts. These regs nudge them at having a more waist-line friendly menu.
There has been a 60-calorie drop – about 12% – in recent years. This is according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who analyzed nearly 20,000 menu items from 66 of the 100 largest American chain restaurants. Restaurants such as Applebee’s, McDonald’s, and Olive Garden have started to implement these smaller-portion, lower calorie menus recently. During my recent visit to another Italian restaurant chain, I noticed the healthier menu option but didn’t put two and two together!
The only problem is that the major drop in calories was seen mostly in children’s items, beverages and new items. Main courses did not have a real decrease in calories. 
The upside is that this will be helpful for our nation’s kids. 60 to 70 calories may seem like nothing, but it adds up quickly, especially when you consider how often families go out to eat!
For more information, read “Biggest chain restaurants are voluntarily cutting calories” in the Washington Post.
With assistance from future Kelly Katzman, nutrition intern
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