Changing Kids Pre-Set Menus

by

Change
Share On Social!

Many restaurants offer the same sugary beverages on kids meals with unhealthy options like high-sugar sodas, lemonades and juices.

Now Maryland lawmakers are considering a bill to help ban soda’s and other sugary drinks from kids menu’s in all restaurants.

Wanting to help parents and kids make the healthy choice the easy choice, the bill would change kids menus to offer healthier choices like water, low-fat milk or 100 percent juices at regular price.

“The choice that comes with 80 percent of restaurant kids’ meals is a soda or a fruit punch, and in those cases families are always welcomed to ask for a healthy drink, but it sometimes costs $2 or $3 more to get a milk,” Robi Rawl, the Sugar Free Kids Maryland Executive Director said in a recent article.

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), 78 percent of most top chain restaurants mainly offer soda as the kids’ meal beverage.

Studies show that consuming more than one sugar-sweetened beverage a day are also linked to higher risks of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Local registered nurse and sponsor of the bill, Senator Shirley Nathan-Pulliam testified at the Senate hearing and quoted CSPI’s research, revealing that 32 percent of Maryland children aged 2 to 5 are overweight or obese.

Many other countries and states are looking to help decrease obesity, tooth decay and risks of cardiovascular disease by putting labels on sugary drinks that display the amount of sugar in tablespoons to help children and parents understand the amount of sugar in drinks.

Latino kids are often faced with unhealthy sugary beverage ads more than their white peers, and studies also show, Latino kids consume more sugary beverages as well.

Offering more options to help kids and parents see the healthy choice as the easier choice when eating out may help consumers choose wisely for the health of their families.

To learn more about this story, click here.

By The Numbers By The Numbers

1

Supermarket

for every Latino neighborhood, compared to 3 for every non-Latino neighborhood

Share your thoughts