The power of the golden arches

The power of the golden arches

Struggling to get your pre-schooler to eat the food you put in front of them?

Sticking your homemade meal in a McDonald’s wrapper and serving it to your fussy eater may be the answer!

A recent study in the US found that three- to five-year-olds consistently preferred food in McDonald’s wrappers over the same food served in unbranded packaging.

It didn’t matter whether the food in the McDonald’s wrapper was a McDonald’s product or not, the majority still chose it as their favourite option!

Of the five different foods served to the pre-schoolers in both McDonald’s packaging and unbranded packaging, a total of three foods were McDonald’s products – french fries, chicken nuggets and hamburgers, while the other two – carrots and milk – were not even marketed or available from McDonald’s in the US (here in NZ milk is available).

But place those carrots in a McDonald’s wrapper and 54% of pre-schoolers said they tasted better than the unbranded carrots. 61% of the children said milk in a McDonald’s cup tasted better.

The researchers don’t know why this is. But they did find children with more television sets in their homes were more likely to prefer McDonald’s food, as were children who visited the fast-food restaurant more than once a month.

http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/articles/searchcategories?catalog_index=foodandnutrients_categories&vocabulary_term=fastfood&vocabulary_name=hfm.categories.foodandnutrients&pagesize=20