Yale health researchers just released their report on fast food nutrition and advertising with some interesting findings. We have highlighted some of the stand-out results.
• $4.2 Billion dollars – the amount the fast food industry spent on advertising for 2024 alone.
• 84% – Percentage of parents who take their kids to eat fast food at least once a week.
• 12 – The number of meals out of 3,039 assessed that are considered “nutritional” for preschoolers. This amounts to 0.3% of meals being somewhat “healthy”.
• 15% – Percentage of preschoolers who ask to go to McDonald’s every single day!
•17% – Percentage of items on fast food menus that qualify as “healthy choices”.
This issue affects children across the globe. Jamie Oliver is one celebrity chef that had made it his mission to get healthier food in schools. He started this mission in the West Virginia and chronicled the obstacles, as well as positive changes, that come with providing healthy food for kids in schools on “Food Revolution”.
Children are rarely in control of the food they are fed which means they rely on their caretakers to make the responsible choices for them when it comes to their health. Obviously, someone is dropping the ball somewhere, and it is time to make some big changes.
Who is to blame for the childhood obesity epidemic? Advertisers? Parents? Both? Share your comments with us as we continue to battle this epidemic.