Healthy and less healthy 'Kid's menu' meals similar in price

(HealthDay)—Healthy and less healthy meals on children's menus in full-service restaurants are similarly priced, in contrast to the higher price of healthy food at the grocery store, according to a study published online June 6 in Preventing Chronic Disease.

Rebecca A. Krukowski, Ph.D., from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Nashville, and Delia West, Ph.D., from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, used the Children's Menu Assessment to compare the prices of healthful and less healthful entrees on children's menus from 75 full-service restaurant chains with a children's menu. The definitions of more healthful and less healthful were based on guidelines from the Nutrition Environment Measures Study in Restaurants assessment.

The researchers found that comparing the 58 restaurants with at least one more healthful entree, the mean price of more healthful entrees was $5.38 and the mean price of the less healthful entrees was $5.27, which were not statistically different. For 14 restaurants, there was no price difference because all children's menu entrees were available for the same price.

"In contrast to research demonstrating that more healthful foods tend to be more expensive in grocery stores, more healthful entrees on children's menus in restaurants were not more expensive than less healthful entrees," Krukowski and West conclude.

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