Children are eating less fast food and consuming fewer calories when they do, according to a new report from JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers used data collected in a national surveys that children eating fast food has gone down by around 6 percent since 2004. “We’ve seen similar trends in adults, so we suspected the trend would be similar in children,” author Colin Rehm of Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy told Time.
Although the study did not look at why children were found to eat less calories from burger, pizza and chicken fast food restaurants. “We saw a decrease in the number of calories per eating occasion, which suggests that a combination of consumer behavior and changes made by the restaurants can actually impact diet and change the amount of calories people are consuming,” says Rehm. Calories remained the same from Mexican and sandwich fast-food restaurants.
