Why I'm Not So Unhappy about the New Happy Meal

By now you’ve probably heard that McDonald’s is getting ready to roll out its new Happy Meal.  Nutritionists are not impressed.

Marion Nestle says, “If McDonald’s were serious, it could offer a truly healthier Happy Meal as the default and back it up with marketing dollars.”  Read Nestle’s complete statement.

Instead, the Happy Meal hoopla boils down to a meal that now will include:

• 3 or 4 slices of apple
• one ounce less of French Fries
• Less sodium

From a nutrition perspective, these changes don’t amount to a hill of beans.  But from a habits perspective, they’re worth considering.

It’s easy to scoff at the addition of 3 or 4 apple slices to the Happy Meal, but who else can so easily convince kids to eat apples?

I’m not saying that I wouldn’t like to see bigger changes.  Of course I would.  But I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when McDonald’s puts its branding might behind apples.

I’m sure you think most kids will eat the fries and dump the apples; don’t be so sure.  Branding shapes taste preferences.  (I guess that’s what a $10 billion advertising campaign can buy you!)

Check this out:

Researchers in California asked a group of preschoolers to taste two sets of carrots.  One set was placed on top of a McDonald’s French fries bag.  The other set was placed on a plain white bag.  What do you think happened?

The kids preferred the McDonald’s carrots.  Identical food.  Different packaging.

The researchers took McDonald’s French fries.  They placed some in a McDonald’s bag and some in a plain bag.  The preschoolers said the McDonald’s French fries tasted better—even though the plain bag fries were also McDonald’s fries.  Identical foods. Different packaging.

The same thing happened when the researchers presented the children with Chicken McNuggets and with milk: the kids thought the branded food tasted better.  (See, kids don’t really know what they like. They know what they think they like!  Read Mind over Matter.)

If McDonald’s can do this for apples…  

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

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Robinson, T. N., D. L. G. Borzekowski, D. M. Matheson, and H. C. Kraemer. 2011. “Effects of Fast Food Branding on Young Children's Taste Preferences.” Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 161(8): 792-97.

How Do You Like Them Apples?

Apples are pretty much the perfect snack.  These days, lots of places -- McDonald’s, Burger King, even Target -- serve them.  I think it’s great.

Unfortunately, these places are also pairing their apples with caramel dipping sauces.  That’s not so great.

After the success of souped up milk – chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, cookies ‘n cream anyone? -- manufacturers have realized the magic of enhancing fruit too.   But when fruit needs to be made more appealing, you know we’re in trouble.

It's not just the practice of eating caramel-dripped apples that wreaks havoc on our kids' habits, though.  It's the cumulative effect of adding sweetener to foods -- including those already sweetened by nature -- that trains our kids' taste buds in the wrong direction.

Of course, you know what the dipping sauce does to nutrition.

Here’s how Target’s 2.25 oz serving of apple slices with caramel dip stacks up to a plain, old apple. 

Calories

• Apples: 34
• Apples with dip: 70

Sugar

• Apples: 7g
• Apples with dip: 14g

Sodium

• Apples: 0mg
• Apples with dip: 25mg

The “at-least-they’re-apples” argument has some merit.

That’s how McDonald’s gets away with dishing up an additional 70 sugary, salty caramel calories with their apples.  Anything looks good compared to French fries.

On the other hand…

1) The more kids expect foods to be highly sweetened, the less likely they are to eat foods that don’t meet the sugar threshold.  Think broccoli, asparagus, and peas.

2) Overlooking the extras in one snack makes it a treat, but when sugary enhancers are added to meals and snacks throughout the day, that’s a lifestyle.  In addition to caramel dipped apples, most kids also eat sweetened yogurt, cookies, sweetened (even if only lightly) cereal, ice cream, fruit strips, juice, and the list goes on.

According to the American Heart Association:

• The availability of added sugars has increased by almost 20% since 1970, adding 70 calories a day to the American diet, with no increase in physical activity.

• Children between 1 and 3 years old now take in an average of 12 teaspoons of added sugar per day.

Target’s caramel sauce has 5 different sources of added sugar.  (1) High fructose corn syrup, then (2) sugar and (3) corn syrup in the condensed milk, then (4) some more sugar, and finally, just to make sure the sauce is sweet enough, (5) a little more corn syrup. 

 How do you like them apples? 

~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~

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Source:  Product labels; http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1809/2, accessed 3/30/2010;http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutritionfacts.pdf, accessed 3/30/2010;  Johnson, R. K., L. J. Appel, M. Brands, B. V. Howard, M. Lefevre, R. H. Lustig, F. Sacks, L. M. Steffen, and J. Wylie-Rosett. 2009. “Dietary Sugars Intake and Cardiovascular Health: a Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.” Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association 120: 1011-20. 

An Apple a Day?

Think apples, apple sauce and apple juice are basically the same thing? Food manufacturers would have you believe that they are: Every glass of Mott’s apple juice has 2 servings of real fruit inside the ads say.

But apples, apple sauce and apple juice are quite different. Check out these NuVal scores* (out of 100 for top nutrition):

• Apples … 96

• Apple Sauce … 
  • high of 30 (for Musselman’s Natural Unsweetened Apple Sauce)
  • low of 4 (Mott’s Original Apple Sauce)

• Apple Juice… 10

Why the difference? According to NuVal’s Director of Nutrition, Annette Maggi, MS, RD there are three basic reasons for the discrepancy:

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