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McDonald’s: Quit Clowning Around with Kids’ Health
McDonald’s announced that it would be pulling this month’s Happy Meal giveaway—a fitness tracker—after reports that the devices have caused rashes on children’s arms. But rashes or not, McDonald’s ploy to associate Happy Meals with health was dangerous from the start.
Earlier today, McDonald’s announced that it would be pulling this month’s Happy Meal giveaway—a fitness tracker—after reports that the devices have caused rashes on children’s arms. But rashes or not, McDonald’s ploy to associate Happy Meals with health was dangerous from the start.
According to USA Today, McDonald’s introduced the Olympic-inspired trackers to “push back at critics who've painted the business as pushing junk food to kids.” But adding a fitness tracker to an order of burgers and fries doesn’t change the fact that McDonald’s is still pushing burgers, chicken nuggets, and fries—all junk food—to kids.
Late last week, the American Heart Association released a statement in the journal Circulation on the state of children’s cardiovascular health in the United States. The report is sobering: According to the AHA, many American children already fail to meet even basic standards for good heart health.
The authors found that about a third of surveyed children have elevated cholesterol levels, while an estimated 10 to 27 percent of U.S. children are obese, depending on the age group.
It’s not a surprise, considering the authors also found that an overwhelming majority of the children—91 percent—eat unhealthy diets. In fact, the average U.S. child eats only about a serving of fruit and a serving of vegetables per day, falling woefully short of the recommended five daily servings. At the same time, most children consume an excess of artery-clogging saturated fat, while 9 in 10 eat too much sodium. So the last thing kids need to associate with health is cheeseburgers, fried chicken nuggets, and salty fries.
To curb the childhood obesity epidemic, we have to look further than just physical fitness. While exercise is important and has its benefits, studies continue to show that food choices play a bigger role in maintaining a healthy weight. One study in preschoolers found that physical activity levels do not determine children’s body weight as much as other factors, including diet.
Considering that a cheeseburger Happy Meal has 570 calories, 20 grams of total fat, 8.5 grams of saturated fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol, and 915 milligrams of sodium, it’s not fitness trackers that McDonald’s needs to serve up with its Happy Meals, but angiograms.
