When it comes to food and health, it seems that we are living in parallel universes.
In one universe, there is a new report from The Institute of Medicine in the US, Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention: Solving the Weight of the Nation, urging governments and decision makers (including those in the private sector) “to make a concerted effort to reduce unhealthy food and beverage options and substantially increase healthier food and beverage options at affordable, competitive prices”.
In this ideal universe, the IOM says, “healthy foods will become the most visible, attractive, and easy-to obtain options anywhere food is sold or served”.
And then we have the other universe, aka the real world.
The one where the London Olympics will no doubt do an outstanding job of promoting the brands of sponsors McDonald’s and Coca Cola.
The one where McDonald’s and friends have infiltrated children’s sport.
The one where fast food chains indulge in “weightwashing” with the help of health and fitness organisations (as reported by The Sunday Age’s Jill Stark).
And the one where Ronald McDonald visits schools, bearing gifts and lessons about health.
Meanwhile a recent NSW study investigating just how little healthy food is sold by McDonald’s provides a timely reality check. It’s the latest “must read” article from the JournalWatch service of The Public Health Advocacy Institute WA.
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How much healthy food is sold at fast food restaurants?
Dr Melissa Stoneham writes:
With Australia’s obesity rate on the rise, and the link between regular consumption of fast food and weight gain through over-consumption of high energy density foods being clear, the authors of this article aimed to observe healthy and unhealthy meal purchases in Australian fast food stores.
The research undertook to observe and document the sales of healthier options and more traditional fast foods served at one of the best known fast food restaurants in the world, McDonald’s. This study observed a range of NSW McDonald fast food outlets.
The study noted that the fast food industry has recently been offering healthier alternatives. McDonald’s healthier options include salads and wraps and they also display the calories contained within each type of food served.
However, these outlets have not publicly released sales data for these healthier options, nor have they disclosed the impact of healthier options on the sales of regular menu items.
In September 2011, McDonald’s lost the right to display the National Heart Foundation’s healthier food Tick on its burgers, salads and other popular lines, with the Heart Foundation stating “there was no criticism of McDonald’s or other chains but that the healthy food program would change direction to concentrate on ingredients delivered to restaurants and food outlets”.
For this study, data collection occurred at McDonald’s stores during lunch and dinner times over a two-week period and included both the school holidays and term time. A total of 1,449 meal purchases were observed.
Of these, 1% were healthy, 65% were unhealthy and 34% were take-away. This study identified that although the provision of healthy fast food options is commendable, only a minority of Australians are purchasing them.
With more than 16 000 fast-food stores dotting the Australian landscape, and with predictions that growth in fast-food retailing is expected to outpace total food sales in real terms over the next three years, it seems the public health professionals still have their work cut out for them!
• Sales of healthy choices at fast food restaurants in Australia. Authors: Lyndal Wellard, Colleen Glasson and Kathy Chapman. Australian Health Promotion Journal; Vol 23; Issue 1: pages 37-41
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PHAIWA is an independent public health voice based within Curtin University, with a range of funding partners. The Institute aims to raise the public profile and understanding of public health, develop local networks and create a statewide umbrella organisation capable of influencing public health policy and political agendas.
About JournalWatch
The Public Health Advocacy Institute WA (PHAIWA) JournalWatch service reviews 10 key public health journals on a monthly basis, providing a précis of articles that highlight key public health and advocacy related findings, with an emphasis on findings that can be readily translated into policy or practice.
The Journals reviewed include:-
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health (ANZJPH)
Journal of Public Health Policy (JPHP)
Health Promotion Journal of Australia (HPJA)
Medical Journal of Australia (MJA)
Lancet
Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP)
Tobacco Control (TC)
American Journal of Public Health (AMJPH)
Health Promotion International (HPI)
American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM)
These reviews are then emailed to all JournalWatch subscribers and are placed on the PHAIWA website. To subscribe to Journal Watch go to http://www.phaiwa.org.au/index.php/other-projects-mainmenu-146/journalwatch
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Previous JournalWatch articles:
• Why the world needs a dengue day
• Germany’s role in undermining tobacco control
Yes, indeed, the problem is that we DO live in the real world. Look, anyone with half a brain understands and supports any reasonable drive to enhance healthy eating habits in the community. BUT the public/private partnership is a reality of the world in which we live, is all around us and by and large works fairly well! The sort of money that supports schools, many health initiatives and programmes, and sports (yes even the Olympics) won’t come from other sources- taxpayers won’t fully fund these ventures, so using private funding in addition makes sense. And, how far do you want to go? Would you shut down the wonderful work done by Ronald McDonald Houses because they arose and are driven by that ubiquitous multinational? I think not!! At the end of the day, it is the parents who need to set boundaries, lead by example, and teach their kids that in the real world all sorts of enticing “bad influences” abide to tempt them to stray from a health lifestyle- we won’t achieve it by draconian legislation or “nanny state” coddling!!
Ron: this isn’t about “public/prviate partnership”- it’s about corporate infiltration. Corporations use the Olympics etc as advertising, and exercises in hypocrisy like “Ronald McDonald” to disguise the damage they do and the profit they extract. Most of these “benefits” are small change for big corporations.
For me, the invasion of the Royal Childrens’ Hospital in Melbourne twenty years ago by McDonalds was the last straw. Pure evil.
Flying around the USA in the mid-80s in commuter aircraft showed me the future: gross obesity waddling down the aisle…the fear that each great fat mass might crash into the little seat next to you…the stentorous breathing…the impossibility of climbing out to have a piss…the struggles of your neighbour to rise and let you escape…
Don’t give me crap about the “nanny state”, Ron…the state is complicit in the obesity epidemic. Trendy Tory Boris Johnson ostentatiously on his bike while fat rules the Olympics…a perfect expression of corporatism’s absurdity.
been to Britain lately? My once trim compatriots are now lardarses…good news for Big Pharma, eh Ron?
For once I find myself in complete agreement with Frank Campbell. I work in a scientific area looking at finding “markers” for pre-clinical indicators of obesity or “diabesity” as its becoming known.
I’d shut down McDonalds and the like. We’d get a better result for our public health dollar if we did.
It is intriguing that the likes of KFC, Hungry Jacks and Pizza hut are rarely mentioned in the media as purveyors of junk food. Frankly, cooking a chicken under high pressure in boiling oil does not yield a healthy product. Nor does stuffing a pizza crust with cheese.
Is it cynical to suggest that this constant reference to McDonalds is in fact encouraged by the company itself as just another means of advertising their ‘food’.
Ron, you are correct in apportioning the blame in part to the parents, however the pervasive nature of the saturation promotion within schools and institutions is offensive, and on this, I agree with Frank.