More than three quarters of children’s meals at chain restaurants contain more calories than recommended, according to research.
Almost nine out of 10 meals for under-fives are more fattening than the limits recommended by the Government.
A staggering 30 per cent of children in England are overweight and one in six are obese, figures show.
Being bombarded with unhealthy options when families eat out is making the problem worse, researchers said.
And while many may think they’re safer if they avoid fast food outlets’ burgers and nuggets, sit-down restaurants and pub chains may actually be even less healthy.
A majority of meals on offer also contain more fat and salt than is recommended by health officials.
Although fast food chains may have a bad reputation, meals at sit-down restaurants and pub chains, including those pictured, tended to have significantly higher calorie, fat and salt counts
Pizza Hut’s pan pizza margharita sold in the Big Heroes deal for £7.99, with three toppings and fries contains 864 calories
Crown Carveries’ child’s carvery costs £8.29. It contains around 546 calories
Researchers from the University of Roehampton in London and the Cork Institute of Technology in Ireland studied the food on offer at 20 popular restaurant chains.
They found 87 per cent of meals for two to five-year-olds contained more than the recommended number of calories for the age group.
According to Public Health England, children that age should eat no more than 364kcal in a single meal, rising to 550kcal for six to 12-year-olds.
But parents of children in the older age group must also decide against the odds – 66 per cent of their meals contained more than 550kcal.
Beefeater’s child’s beef burger costs £4.85, it comes with chips and two mini corn on the cobs, with a total of 625 calories
Pizza Express’ American pizza aimed at children contains 510 calories
The average calorie count in a toddler’s meal was 609kcal, while that rose to 653 for older children – PHE says even adults should only eat 600kcal per meal.
More than two thirds (68 per cent) of younger children’s dishes had more fat than the healthy limit, alongside 55 per cent of older childrens’.
And meals for toddlers contained 1.8g of salt on average – more than the recommended 0.8g. For older children this average rose to 2g per meal, which was higher than the 1.5g recommendation.
‘Meals in UK and Ireland chain restaurants were generally too energy-dense, contained too much fat (particularly saturated fat), and had too much salt for both older and younger children,’ the researchers, led by Dr Sue Reeves, said.
‘Despite a choice of over 16,000 meals, it is still potentially difficult for parents of younger children to select a meal that provides the recommended number of calories for their age group.’
In their study the researchers trawled through 39,266 meals available to children across two age groups at high-profile chains in the UK and Ireland.
The restaurants included the pub brands Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Crown Carveries, Ember Inns, Harvester, Sizzling Pub Co and Toby Carvery.
It also took in high street restaurants All Bar One, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Nando’s, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, Wagamama and Zizzi.
And fast food chains Apache Pizza, Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, Subway and SuperMacs were all also included.
Perhaps surprisingly, Dr Reeves and her team found sit-down restaurants tended to have more calories, fat and salt in their meals than their fast food rivals.
The mid-range calorie count in a fast food meal was 417kcal, significantly lower than 684kcal for full-service restaurants.
The worst offender had 256 options on its menu for young children, with an average of 908kcal – more than half an entire day’s worth for a 10-year-old.
And for older children, one restaurant with 54 options had an average calorie count of 978kcal – more than four Mars bars.
However, the researchers stopped short of naming which restaurants had the least healthy menus.
The research was published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour.
