The National Restaurant Association encouraged fast food restaurants to incorporate healthy food choices on their kids’ menus through the voluntary Kids LiveWell initiative in 2011. The movement started with around 15,000 participants and swelled to about 41,000 by 2013.
Though the initiative showed incredible promise, participation was 100 percent voluntary. Many restaurants seem to have forgotten their pledge by the onset of 2017, according to research conducted at Boston’s Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Investigation into the Effectiveness of Kids LiveWell
Researchers found that an overwhelming majority of participating restaurants had either made negligible improvements in the quality of their choices or had not attempted to make healthy changes to their kids menus all since the 2011 initiative began.
In 2016, beverages that contained unhealthy amounts of sugar still made up about 80 percent of the available drink options for kids. Similarly, the fact that one in three American children and teenagers eat from fast food kids menus every day has not changed in 2017.
The investigation revealed that a small portion of restaurants that had pledged to the Kids LiveWell program followed through with their promises. The program had provided guidelines for crafting kids’ menus that stay within healthy limits.
Criteria for healthy meals included:
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| The Kids LiveWell initiative. Source: Louisiana.gov |
- Less than or equal to 600 calories
- Fewer than 35 percent of calories from fat
- Less than 0.5 grams of trans fat
- Fewer than 770 milligrams of sodium
- Reaches two or more essential food groups
Sides also received guidelines, including:
- Less than or equal to 200 calories
- Matching fat requirements to that of meals
- Fewer than 250 milligrams of sodium
Meals and sides both required that less than 35 percent of calories came from total sugar. The food groups outlined for meals and sides also limited groups to those that provided usable nutrition, such as the fruit, vegetable, whole grain, and lean protein groups.
However, by the beginning of 2017, most restaurants were unable to comply with the guidelines and did not receive placement on the Healthy Dining Finder website, one of the incentives promised to restaurants who provided more healthy kids menus and met the Kids LiveWell requirements.
Fast Food Culture to Blame?
Quinnipiac University dietitian Dana Angelo White believes that “voluntary pledges and minuscule tweaks to menus can’t change the culture of fast food.” Even among children, the need to accomplish as much as possible in as little time as possible is growing, and taking in the necessary calories to provide energy for everyday life is essential.
Although the Kids LiveWell program created guidelines for building healthy menus for kids, there are currently no enforceable regulations that dictate nutritional requirements of chain restaurant kids’ menus. A partnership between restaurants, researchers, and government agencies could create a more tangible result, but for now, dietitians and research organizations can only speculate.
