Fall 2007

McDonald’s holds on to kids’ tastes

A Chicken McNugget by any other name is just not as tasty. At least to kids.

Asked to sample two identical foods from the fast-food giant McDonald’s, children preferred the taste of the version branded with the familiar “Golden Arches” to one packaged in unmarked paper, said researchers.

“Kids don’t just ask for food from McDonald’s,” said Thomas Robinson, MD, director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Packard Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of pediatrics and of medicine at the School of Medicine. “They actually believe that the chicken nugget they think is from McDonald’s tastes better than an identical, unbranded nugget.”

The study results are likely to fuel more debate over a growing movement to restrict marketing that is directed to kids under 8 years old.

 

Did you know?

The brain consumes more than 25 percent of the oxygen used by the human body.

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