The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University recently released a detailed report\u00a0on\u00a0fast food nutrition and\u00a0marketing to kids. The conclusions aren’t pretty:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
New Haven, Conn.<\/strong> \u2014 Children as young as age 2 are seeing more fast food ads than ever before, and restaurants rarely offer parents the healthy kids\u2019 meal choices, according to a new study from Yale\u2019s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. The new evaluation, the most comprehensive study of fast food nutrition and marketing ever conducted, shows that fast food marketers target children across a variety of media and in restaurants. In addition, the study finds that restaurants provide largely unhealthy defaults for the side dishes and drinks that come with kids\u2019 meals. The detailed findings of this study will be presented in Denver today during the American Public Health Association\u2019s annual meeting.<\/p>\n
…”Despite pledges to improve their marketing practices, fast food companies seem to be stepping up their efforts to target kids,” said lead researcher Jennifer L. Harris, Ph.D., M.B.A., director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center. “Today, preschoolers see 21% more fast food ads on TV than they saw in 2003, and somewhat older children see 34% more.”<\/p>\n
Key study findings include:<\/em><\/p>\n
…The restaurant environment does not help steer people toward the healthier selections:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
- Most fast food restaurants have at least one healthy side dish and beverage option for a kids\u2019 meal, but the healthy options are rarely offered as the default.<\/li>\n
- Even though McDonald\u2019s and Burger King show only healthy sides and beverages in child-targeted advertising, the restaurants automatically serve french fries with kids\u2019 meals at least 86% of the time, and soft drinks at least 55% of the time.<\/li>\n
- Companies facing increasing pressure about portion sizes are renaming, rather than eliminating, their biggest sides and drinks.\u00a0 At Burger King, for example, a 42-ounce \u201cKing\u201d drink is now the \u201clarge\u201d option; the former \u201clarge\u201d 32-ounce drink is now a \u201cmedium\u201d; the former \u201cmedium\u201d 21-ounce drink is now a \u201csmall\u201d; and the former \u201csmall\u201d 16-ounce drink is now the \u201cvalue\u201d option.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n
A 32 oz. drink is\u00a0now a\u00a0“medium?”\u00a032 oz. is\u00a0a full quart!<\/p>\n
At any rate, it’s depressing reading. Even if childhood obesity wasn’t a major issue, I’d still have problems with pushing fast food to kids, due to the overall poor nutritional profile of the\u00a0main menu offerings\u00a0(not great for growing children) and the excessive amounts of sodium.<\/p>\n