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Study shows what kids eat at McDonald’s

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This is a guest blog post by Dr. Ayala Laufer-Cahana M.D.

Eating out, and especially eating at fast-food restaurants, is considered a risk factor for obesity, poor diet and chronic diseases.

Yet eating fast food is a major American habit: At least one quarter of adults eat fast food daily, as do 25 – 30 percent of kids.

Fast food meals typically serve big portions of calorically dense food, rich in fat and sugar and quite aptly labeled “fiberless food”.  The typical kids’ meal in fast food chains is no better – the main distinction of the young ones’ fare is the addition of the collectable toy.

Fast-food restaurants publicize (and are often applauded for) their move to healthier oils, and many have revamped their menu and now include a few healthier options, such as salads and apple slices (both accompanied by condiments that return guilt into the equation).  But do kids and their parents order the ‘better’ menu options?

What kids actually eat at McDonald’s

A new study in Childhood Obesity collected the receipts and interviewed 544 families with kids visiting the McDonald franchise inside the Children’s Hospital of San Diego for lunch.

Let me pause for a moment to comment on the presence of a McDonald franchise inside a children’s hospital, which feels like a great endorsement from a major medical institution.  I assure you that no reputable medical authority has ever given McDonald’s its blessing, yet San Diego’s Children’s Hospital is not alone in hosting a fast-food joint.  Children’s hospital of Philadelphia, considered by some the No 1 children’s hospital in the nation, had a McDonald’s for 34 years — it closed a few weeks because the hospital needed the space – Children’s Los Angeles has a McDonald’s on its first floor, as does Texas Children’s.

So what’s for lunch? The most frequent items bought for preschoolers (2-5 years) were French fries, soda, chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers and hamburgers.  The most frequent items for kids 6-11 years were French fries, chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, soda and apple pie.  Adolescents’ choices centered on French fries, soda, cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, and chocolate chip cookies.

Less than 1 percent of kids bought the yogurt parfait, and apple dippers were bought by less than 1 percent of preschoolers, 3.5 percent of 6-11 year-olds, and almost none of the teens (0.3 percent).

And now to the calorie count:  The average caloric content bought for kids’ lunch was 646-811 calories, which makes about half of the daily caloric need of a young kid.

The meals averaged 35-39 percent of calories from fat, with about 10 percent of that fat saturated.

The sodium content of the meals averaged 866-1100 mg, which pretty much covers the daily sodium allowance of a preschooler.

The parents were asked what made them choose McDonald’s for lunch, and the most common reasons for their pick were “the kids like the food” and its convenience.

Better options at fast food restaurants – a remote option

This study confirms what we already know: Customers go to McDonalds for fries, hamburgers and soda, not for milk and salad.  A recent article by Christina Rexrode of the The Associated Press sums up the healthier options at fast food chains as just that – a remote option.  What really sells is the high calorie, high fat food, which the chains are famous for.   And the reasons are varied, but one of them is price: “Healthier foods also are usually among the most expensive menu items, which can be tough for recession-weary customers to stomach”.

Let’s face it, McDonalds isn’t renowned for its salads and apples, and as the kids in this study testify, they’re ‘lovin’ it’ for the taste they know — it’s the McDonald’s fat-salt-sugar mixture they crave.

And it would have been fine, had it remained an infrequent indulgence.  Problem is, kids are eating fast food often.  Very often.

Ayala Laufer-Cahana M.D. is a pediatrician, artist blogger and co-founder of Herbal Water Inc.

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  • Kitty J.

    McDonalds should be forced to serve only beans, nuts and berries. We cannot permit parents of children to have any other menu choice! Who wouln’t flock to McDonalds for a heapin’ helpin’ of bland, gassy veggie slush – it would taste fine if it’s served in a shiny colorful package, right? I mean, you seem to suggest parents take their kids to McDonalds only for the advertising, not the food. 

    • MB

      No, i don’t think the idea is to force McDonalds to do anything.  The idea is for parents to choose to feed their children real food.  Whole food.  Meat from animals, veggies from the earth, and calories from something with value for their growing bodies.  McDonalds can do whatever they want.  Just don’t eat there.

      • Melvin S.

        McDonalds’ beef doesn’t come from animals and the potatoes for their fries don’t come from “the earth”?? You’re more than a little out of touch with reality. It’s true most Americans don’t know where food actually comes from and MB illustrates that blissful ignorance – we learn here that food magically appears at McDonalds, no farms involved, ever!! How do they do that???

        • MB

          Have you seen the documentaries on the “farms” where fast food beef comes from?  That is enough reality for me to know that that isn’t what i want to put in my body!!I read a quote once that encouraged you to eat “food that remembers where it came from.”  Fresh, local, whole food.  That’s all I’m sayin’.

          • Ccbweb

            Yes, it may not be what you want to put in your body but that’s a far cry from insinuating that the meat in McDonald’s hamburgers isn’t from animals.  And it’s that sort of unnecessary hyperbole that leads people who aren’t a part of the choir you’re preaching to to disregard everything else you have to say.  

          • Dr. M.

            Those documentaries are rotting your mind, MB. Propaganda is worse than junk food, far worse.

    • Liz

      Missing the point much? Did you miss this thing called irony? A Mickey Dees at a children’s hospital? The parents aren’t exactly enjoying childhood highlights at these places. Why add more pressure on them with this ridiculous restaurant placement? That’s ower than low.

      Stop with the lame neocon jargon.

  • Kitty J.

    McDonalds should be forced to serve only beans, nuts and berries. We cannot permit parents of children to have any other menu choice! Who wouln’t flock to McDonalds for a heapin’ helpin’ of bland, gassy veggie slush – it would taste fine if it’s served in a shiny colorful package, right? I mean, you seem to suggest parents take their kids to McDonalds only for the advertising, not the food. 

  • jen in MN

    really sad. We do Mcdonalds as a snack food place. The newest snack my 5 & 6 yr olds do is a tray they sell with walnuts, skin on apples, grapes, and a very small glob of yogurt which likely has the same sugar content of caramel but better on the teeth. We don’t do happy meals, EVER, but we encourage them to collect the happy meal toys that interest them. Most recently for my son he used the last of his tooth fairy $$$ getting a twinkle toes toy for his sisters Xmas gift. Once we realized the place happily sells the toys for around a buck or 2 depending on the promo we realized we would never have to eat there.

    The hospital my son was born in had a 24 hour McDonalds in it which happily did room service for most floors.

    How ironic, the hospital my DAUGHTER was born at housed a not quite 24 hour subway.

  • Ccbweb

    Because we’re all on the same side I’m going to point out a few things I think don’t help in this write-up.  First: condiments on salads or apple dippers don’t return guilt to the equation.  They return fat, sodium and calories.  Guilt is complex and if we could do a better job removing emotions from food, especially nutrition, we’d be more successful in helping people make healthier choices.  

    Second: “Less than 1 percent of kids bought the yogurt parfait, and apple dippers were bought by less than 1 percent of preschoolers…”   The problem here is that you’re placing the responsibility for the menu choices with the kids.  Preschoolers aren’t buying a thing.  The parent(s) or guardians or whomever is with the child is buying the food.  

    The study offers good information and I agree with your overall points in this blog.  I think we need to be more careful about assigning responsibility where it truly lies and avoid putting additional negative emotions (guilt) into the process of choosing healthier foods.

    @62ad145cdbf2b0d1d7d1b3f21c204b35:disqus Clearly that was the point here.  Nothing in this piece called for any kind of regulation on McDonald’s.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Heidi-Hall/607570309 Heidi Hall

    honestly, we use mcdonalds as an occaisional treat and if i wanted apples i would just cut them myself at home. i do see an issue with people who eat it often but as a treat once in a while (maybe once a month) i see no issues with some fries. i would however NEVER allow my child soda. 

  • Jason

    I totally agree with the good Dr. The only thing she leaves out which is the most important ingredient when we are discussing childhood obesity is the number of grams of Carbohydrates in those meals. It is not the fat in the meal, but rather, the excess carbs that the body stores as fat! To not mention that fact robs parents of the most important guide they have to decide what is good for their kids. It’s real simple, if the kids are gaining pudge then it is time to cut back on the carbs. 

    From my own experience, I can tell you that I gained 20 pounds and 3″ on my waist while, for 20years, on a low/no fat eating lifestyle. I lost it all in 2 months when I cut back on the carbs and by only eating as much carbs as my body needs, it has stayed off for years.

  • Anonymous

    I have to admit I was pretty saddened to see that Childrens Hosp SD has a McD’s serving up trans fat to the peds and their parents. Ultimately, people (in this case the parents more so) are responsible for themselves (and their underage kids) and their actions.

    People who choose an obese lifestyle will find it even at a health food convention. Still, I would have hoped that my towns children’s hospital could at least offer some guidance to the less educated parents out there.

  • Cartoonguy_99

    Diet is a choice. Do you think a parent would feed their children any different at home?

    You’re questioning a McD in a hospital when the various cafeteria foods in most hospitals would fair no better under nutritonal scrutiny. And if you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to have to use it, thank goodness for the Ronald McDonald house. Who for better or worse wouldn’t be able to be funded without Happy Meals and Big Macs. When’s the last time a Tofu Salad paid for unlimited hospital stays? Yeah, didn’t think so.

  • http://www.facebook.com/shuvom1 Shuvo Mondal

    THIS IS AWESOME POST.

  • http://www.facebook.com/shuvom1 Shuvo Mondal

    THIS IS AWESOME POST.

  • http://www.facebook.com/shuvom1 Shuvo Mondal
  • http://www.facebook.com/shuvom1 Shuvo Mondal
  • Verasjenny

    theey food isss //////