It is a known fact that turning to fast food for meals is not the best option for anyone’s diet, particularly children. To combat this negative image, major restaurant chains have begun instituting what they insist are healthier choices geared toward their younger customers. Menus now include milk and water to replace soda or apple sticks in the shape of fries as a side. But are these new additions truly better for our children? A report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest answers with a resounding “no.”
They examined the children’s menus of thirteen restaurant chains to compare the nutrition value of their “healthier” food combinations. The results are enough to make any parent think twice about going out for a quick bite. Of the 1,474 options these restaurants provide children, a startling ninety-three percent of them exceeded one-third of the recommended daily calories of children between four and eight years old (430 calories). This is double the amount consumed by a child outside the home thirty years ago.

Additionally, forty-five percent of the meals were found to be above the recommended saturated and trans fat and eighty-six percent were too high in sodium. This puts these child diners are a severe risk of high cholesterol or even heart disease.

Despite this Kentucky Fried Chicken is "proud to offer a variety of kids meals for those looking for lower calorie, lower fat options." But what is there to be proud of? The nutrition policy director of CSPI, Margo G. Wootan accuses KFC and other chains of “conditioning kids to expect burgers, fried chicken, pizza, French fries, macaroni and cheese, and soda in various combination at almost every lunch and dinner."

The only restaurant to come up with any decent solution for children was Subway. They provide better sides such as raisins, yogurt or apple slices as alternatives in their “Fresh Fit” meals. Unlike the other chains, they do not give soda as a drink option, which significantly helps in decreasing calories in a meal. Even still, Subway has six out of their eighteen combinations that exceed 430 calories.

As much as fast food restaurants should give their diners adequate choices to maintain a healthier lifestyle, it truly does rest on the shoulders of parents to monitor what exactly is going into their children’s stomachs. The CSPI holds to the idea that there is an “essential role of nutrition education, physical activity and parental responsibility in childhood nutrition — good eating habits and healthy living must be established in the home."

A study in Australia showed that more than half of nine and ten years old believe Ronald McDonald to know more about what is best for them than anyone. It is time for parents to take back the reigns from advertising. Until restaurants are willing to make fruits, vegetables and whole grains the only option, parents should avoid the risk of high calorie fast food altogether.

It is no secret that obesity has reached an all time high, but parents are capable of helping to change this. A fourteen week study in the Journal of Pediatrics proved that children can learn better nutritional habits at an early age. Two-hundred four-year-olds were taught this idea through puppetry and imagination and came out of the study with improved eating and exercise habits. Youth is so easily influenced by what is shown on television and played on the radio. If parents could get a handle on this same influence, they could raise a generation that would not know the hardships of obesity, hypertension, diabetes or heart disease.