A study published today in The Journal of Nutrition found that less than 0.1% of restaurant meals in the United States meet the ideal standards of quality nutrition, reports the U.S. News and World Report.
Researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University analyzed the dietary habits of over 35,000 American adults from the years of 2003 to 2016, according to a press release.
Researchers found that 70% of fast food meals and 50% of full-service restaurant meals consumed by Americans were considered to be poor nutritional quality, the press release stated.
Researchers found approximately 30% of Americans ate at a full-service restaurant on any given day during the study’s time frame, and 46% of them ate fast food on any given day.
The study found 12% of all calories eaten came from fast food, while calories from full-service restaurants accounted for 9%, according to U.S. News and World Report. That means about 1 in 5 calories eaten in America comes from a restaurant, Today reports.
And this has increased over time. For example, in 2003, fast-food breakfast accounted for 4% of calories eaten, when the study ended in 2016, it accounted for 8%, reports the U.S. News and World Report.
“Our findings show dining out is a recipe for unhealthy eating most of the time,” lead study author Dariush Mozaffarian said in the press release. “It should be a priority to improve the quality of both full-service and fast-food restaurant meals.”
How can that be done? Junxiu Liu, another author of the study, suggests restaurants add more grains, legumes, fish, fruits and vegetables to their meals and reduce the amount of salt.