Parents who choose fast-food meals from a menu that also lists calories tend to order food with fewer calories, a new study indicates.
The study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics involved 99 parents of three-to six-year-olds who sometimes eat in fast-food restaurants with their children.
The parents, all from a pediatric practice in Seattle, were presented with sample McDonald's menus and asked what they would select for themselves and their children as a typical meal.
Half the parents were given menus with the calorie counts for each item.
The findings showed that the parents who were given the calorie information chose 102 fewer calories on average for their children compared to the group without the calorie listings.
"Even modest calorie adjustments on a regular basis can avert weight gain and lead to better health over time," lead researcher Dr. Pooja Tandon of Seattle Children's Research Institute said in a release.
"Just an extra 100 calories per day may equate to about 10 pounds of weight gain per year."
Tandon says it's encouraging that the findings suggest parents will make wise food choices for their children, but they need help.
"Now that some areas are requiring nutritional information in chain restaurants, we have opportunities to further study what happens when we put this knowledge in the hands of parents."
?? The Canadian Press, 2010