Less Junk in Junk Food?
In response to consumer demand, the amounts of “junk” in junk foods is being reduced. Some of the areas that are being improved upon are a reduction of the percentage of fats, sugar and sodium in the munchies we’re eating today. For portion size, there’s often smaller packages with less calories per serving.
Some companies that produce these snack foods are restricting the use of licensed characters to promote their goods to young people. The use of a cute popular cartoon character on a high fat, high sugar snack or cereal undermines good nutrition and the health and fitness of young people today.
Of concern for the future health of our country is the rapid rise of obesity in our children. In schools, there are moves to eliminate soft drinks and trans fats from the cafeteria menu and vending machines. Snack foods that are an alternative to traditional munchies are baked Doritos, Lay’s and Cheetos. Fast food companies are responding to the new health consciousness with versions of McDonald’s Happy Meals, for example, with sliced apples, chicken nuggets and low fat milk. For adults, we are seeing more salads on the fast food menus. This movement is becoming self regulated to a degree because of public demand for healthier options.
Kraft has responded with a Sensible Solution line of products with a green flag indicating lower levels of fat, sugar or salt than it’s usual. The government and health industry is looking for more uniformity in labeling and standards for the food industry. We are not there yet, but there is a move in the right direction.
This is an important issue involving the food industry versus the health industry as 66.3 percent of adults over age 20, in 2004, were either overweght or obese. It is the reason that health and fitness supplements for fat loss have picked up enormously in popularity and are literally a billions and billions of dollar industry. It is a subject that merits attention and action. While junk food is still not “health food”, at least reduction of fat, sodium and sugar is a start on addressing this problem.
