Kids love fast foods. Show them Big Mac and large fries and you’ll surely get their attention almost instantaneously and no sweat at that. But as much as we hope fast foods can return the same extent of appreciation to our kids, a piece of toy from happy meals is just not sufficient to prove they care enough for our kids’ health.
Based on the analysis of dietitians at the nonprofit group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), fast foods are the biggest source of unhealthy meals that kids are consuming nowadays. McDonald’s Mighty Kids Meal tops the list with 840 calories, 37 grams of fat and excessive sodium content. But the saddest part is that their happy meals toys are acting as motivational pieces that keep luring the kids from munching greasy-filled burgers and fries. This is also the reason why a nonprofit group Center for Science in the Public Interest threatened to sue McDonald on June for using the toys to promote junk foods. To date, no lawsuit has been filed yet.
Other fast food meals that were identified to give too much cholesterol are Wendy’s, KFC, A&W, and Burger King. Below are the figures from the findings:
- McDonald’s Mighty Kids Meal: Double Cheeseburger, French fries, and chocolate milk
840 calories; 37 grams of fat - Wendy’s Kids’ Meal: Chicken Sandwich, French fries, and chocolate Frosty
770 calories; 34 grams of fat - KFC Kids Meal: Popcorn chicken, potato wedges, string cheese, and soda
800 calories; 1,800 milligrams of sodium - A&W Kids Meal: Cheeseburger, French fries, and soda
780 calories; 9 grams of saturated fat - Burger King’s BK Kids: Breakfast muffin sandwich meal
95 milligrams of cholesterol; exceeds recommended limit on sodium intake
In hindsight, those facts mentioned above certainly gives an alarming reminder about what our kids are taking into their stomachs. But the hope is still high that fast foods will be more aggressive in pushing forth healthy meals in their menus and share the same objective of fighting childhood obesity.
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