Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Nutrients
Volume
14
Issue
13
Publisher
MDPI
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences / Institute for Nutrition Research
RAS ID
45177
Funders
Australian Research Council / East Metropolitan Health Service, Western Australian Department of Health
Grant Number
ARC Number : DE210101791
Grant Link
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE210101791
Abstract
Australian families increasingly rely on eating foods from outside the home, which in-creases intake of energy‐dense nutrient‐poor foods. ‘Kids’ Menus’ are designed to appeal to families and typically lack healthy options. However, the nutritional quality of Kids’ Menus from cafes and full‐service restaurants (as opposed to fast‐food outlets) has not been investigated in Australia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the nutritional quality of Kids’ Menus in restaurants and cafés in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. All 787 cafes and restaurants located within the East Metropolitan Health Service area were contacted and 33% had a separate Kids’ Menu. The validated Kids’ Menu Healthy Score (KIMEHS) was used to assess the nutritional quality of the Kids’ Menus. Almost all Kids’ Menus (99%) were rated ‘unhealthy’ using KIMEHS. The mean KIMEHS score for all restaurants and cafés was −8.5 (range −14.5 to +3.5) which was lower (i.e., more unhealthy) than the mean KIMEHS score for the top 10 most frequented chain fast‐food outlets (mean −3.5, range −6.5 to +3). The findings highlight the need for additional supports to make improvements in the nutritional quality of Kids’ Menus. Local Government Public Health Plans provide an opportunity for policy interventions, using locally relevant tools to guide decision making.
DOI
10.3390/nu14132741
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Trapp, G. S., Pulker, C. E., Hurworth, M., Law, K. K., Brinkman, S., Pollard, C. M., ... & Hickling, S. (2022). The nutritional quality of Kids’ Menus from cafés and restaurants: An Australian cross-sectional study. Nutrients, 14(13). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14132741