Major fast food chains are adding lower-calorie options

BALTIMORE, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- According to recent study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in 2013, America's fast food chains added new menu items with fewer calories than newcomers in years past.

Researchers analyzed the menus of 66 of the top 100 fast food chains, restaurants ranging from drive-through staples like McDonald's, Wendy's and Arby's, to the slightly slower-paced fast-casual outlets like Panera and Chipotle.

On average, items added to the menu in 2013 were 60 calories lighter than those added in 2012.

The new lower-calorie options have mostly found their way into the salad and sandwich subsections of chain restaurant menus. In other words, at fast food joints that specialize in a certain type of fare (think burgers or fried chicken), calorie shaving isn't happening among core menu items, the section where eaters find double-cheese burgers, a bucket of chicken thighs or loaded onion rings.

Still, progress is progress, and researchers suggest even modest gains like eating 60 fewer calories each meal could slowly put a dent in obesity rates.

"We don't know if they decreased the portion sizes or altered the nutrient composition," study leader Sara Bleich, an associate professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management, told the Boston Globe. "Likely, it was a combination of the two."

The study was published this week in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.