--- title: Fast Food and Kids: Kids Eat Fewer Calories at Restaurants description: The percentage of kids eating fast food on a given day has declined, as has the amount of calories consumed at certain venues, finds a study canonical: https://time.com/3762123/kids-fast-food/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-30T17:24:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:17.577Z article:section: Health og:title: Finally, Some Good News About Kids and Fast Food og:description: The percentage of kids eating fast food on a given day has declined, as has the amount of calories consumed at certain venues, finds a study og:url: https://time.com/3762123/kids-fast-food/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b29bf214bab8e68/698785a635ba6f67fcc07c7b/82191055-1-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5120 og:image:height: 2880 og:image:alt: a fast food tray full of hamburgers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Finally, Some Good News About Kids and Fast Food twitter:description: The percentage of kids eating fast food on a given day has declined, as has the amount of calories consumed at certain venues, finds a study twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b29bf214bab8e68/698785a635ba6f67fcc07c7b/82191055-1-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Finally, Some Good News About Kids and Fast Food > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=128d392d-1f1f-4760-b0df-1679372d4ebe&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Should I Eat Pizza? [Watch (HLS stream): Should I Eat Pizza?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NvpgAWn5.m3u8) (1:39)  _Published 2015-02-12. You might be surprised that four out of five health experts give pizza the thumbs up. But don’t be fooled: these are not greasy thumbs._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 30, 2015 5:24 PM UTC  Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 30, 2015 5:24 PM UTC Fast food is rarely the harbinger of good news, but here’s some: kids are eating less of it. [According to a new report](http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.38) published in the journal _JAMA Pediatrics_, the percentage of kids eating fast food on any given day has dropped, along with the number of calories they consume at certain fast-food joints. Using data collected from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers found that back in 2003-2004, nearly 39% of American kids were eating fast food regularly. But in 2009-2010, about 33% of kids were eating it. In addition, children consumed fewer calories from burger, pizza and chicken fast-food restaurants. Calories from Mexican and sandwich fast-food restaurants remained stable. **MORE**: [This Is the Scary Amount of Pizza Kids Are Really Eating](http://time.com/3671774/kids-eating-pizza/) “We’ve seen similar trends in adults, so we suspected the trend would be similar in children,” says study author Colin D. Rehm, a postdoctoral fellow at Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. “What was surprising was the difference in trends by type of fast-food restaurant.” The study didn’t look at why children were consuming fewer fast-food calories, but Rehm speculates that the trend is due to a combination of factors. “I think some are related to consumer preference and demand, and some are changes made by restaurants, which may include reducing the portion sizes, reformulating existing items or offering different items to potentially replace higher-calorie offerings,” he says. Less likely, he says, is the idea that people are eating less of their meals at each sitting. During the eight-year period of the study, none of the restaurant types experienced a significant increase in the calories their children customers consumed. “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. “That’s promising. It means people are not unchangeable.” The researchers acknowledge that their study looked purely at reported calorie consumption, and not on the quality of those calories. “If the calories are dropping and sodium, added sugar and refined grains are increasing, then we haven’t made much progress,” says Rehm. “We are going to need to drill deeper and figure out if the quality of the calories have changed or remained stable. The last thing we want to be doing is replace calories with even poorer quality calories.” ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:04] You might be surprised that four out five health experts are [00:07] giving pizza the thumbs up. But don't be fooled. These [00:11] are not greasy thumbs. Delivery is a nutritional [00:16] minefield. One slice of sausage has 14 grams [00:20] of fat. Pizza is the number one source. Of solid [00:24] fat intake for kids. 20 % of the pizza that kids [00:28] eat comes from school cafeterias. Which is pretty much [00:32] equal to the fast food kind in fat finds a study by Jennifer [00:37] Poti. Beware the fatty, salty topping. Things warns Lisa [00:40] Powell. Here 2015 study found that on days when kids [00:45] eat pizza they take in more calories, saturated fat, and [00:49] sodium then usual. The trick here is rethinking the pie. [00:53] Pizza can be as harmless as an open faced sandwich filled [00:56] with vegetables whole grains and even fruits says Adam [01:00] Drewnowski. It has a lot going for it. Tomato sauce [01:04] packs more antioxidants than raw tomatoes, found one [01:08] 2015 study from the University of Barcelona. In one [01:12] recent study, Emily Combet developed a nutritionally [01:15] perfect pizza, with less saturated fat. Less sodium [01:20] and more fiber. 81 % of kids liked it as much as the [01:24] regular kind, and 77 % agreed. So [01:29] yes, by all means eat it, but let your love for pizza be [01:33] your excuse to cook more. 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