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"  We&amp;#039;ve come a long way, baby. But not when it comes to healthy options at fast-food restaurants. A new study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine finds that despite A recent increase of healthier options, fast-food menus are not much better off nutritionally than they were in 1997. As Fox News reports, though more salads and veggie options have landed on menus over the last decade, fast food chains have also added more high fat, high calorie options at an equally rapid pace, causing in the overall healthfulness of the menu to remain the same between 1997 and 2010. The study, which compared and analyzed menus from McDonald&amp;#039;s, Burger King, Wendy&amp;#039;s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Arby&amp;#039;s, Jack in the Box, and Dairy Queen, found that the restaurants only improved their overall score on the U.S. Department of Agriculture&amp;#039;s Healthy Eating Index by a mere three points. More From Delish: We&amp;#039;re Not Lovin&amp;#039; It! Fast Food&amp;#039;s Most Famous Flops Fast food accounts for 15 percent of American&amp;#039;s daily diets. The article states that children eat more fast food than meals consumed at school, with fast food becoming the source of most of their meals prepared outside of the home. The study aimed to evaluate whether the top fast-food chains have improved their menu&amp;#039;s nutritional value over the years when both the government and consumer advocate groups have raised awareness about obesity and put pressure on them to do so. What they found, after pooling the menus of the top restaurants, was that saturated fats did decrease on menus, but their score for nutritious items like fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, remained flat. &amp;quot;Overall, nutritional quality of menu offerings was poor,&amp;quot; stated the article. According to a previous study in the journal published last year, over the 14-year period, the eight restaurants that were analyzed collectively increased their menu offerings from 679 items to 1036. The number of lunch and dinner entrees nearly doubled. At the same time, research shows that &amp;quot;the median kilocalories per dessert item increased from 334 kcal/item in 1997-1998 to 414 kcal/item in 2009-2010.&amp;quot; Overall McDonald&amp;#039;s menu offerings increased by 42 kcal/item, from a median of 217 kcal/item to 394 kcal/item. More From Delish: America Likes Its Fast Food Salty and Supersized Though the fast food chains are offering more menu options for customers, which include healthier choices, the article argues there is evidence to support that increasing menu options may actually increase the number of items purchased by consumers. Other studies that have focused on choice demonstrate that the more items an individual is presented with, the greater volume they will consume. Do you think fast-food restaurants are doing a good job of putting nutritious items on their menus? Find more great food content on Delish:   Search for the perfect recipe from our homepage Find out the latest food news Get a recipe book to save your favorite dishes Sign up for our free newsletters Check us out on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/food/news/a39306/fast-food-menus-not-healthier-than-previous-years/>