![]() ''In that segment of the population,'' Dr. Rothschild, a Barnard College anthropology professor, predicted that immigrant families used to dining cheaply at home on traditional foods would be hastened along the path of acculturation. said.Īs fast-food prices decline, who will feel the impact the most?ĭr. ''The fat content of fast-food meals has been increasing, not decreasing,'' Dr. Last year, McDonald's abandoned its low-fat burger, McLean Deluxe, and now encourages customers to ''super-size it'' with a voluminous pouch of fries. Restaurants from steakhouses to trattorias are filling plates to the very edge with outsize portions, many of them highly fattening. The trend toward good-for-you foods appears to have hit a wall and may be experiencing a backlash. Takeout restaurants overtook table-service restaurants last year for the first time, accounting for more than 50 percent of the nation's restaurant business, the National Restaurant Association said. Hamburgers, french fries and chicken nuggets were among the five fastest-growing foods ordered in restaurants, according to the study, which was released in October. Balzer's annual survey, ''Eating Patterns in America,'' seems to suggest that, indeed, Americans' appetite for takeout junk food is insatiable. ![]() ![]() ![]() ''Will we eat more hamburgers because of this?'' asked Harry Balzer, a vice president of the NPD Group, a market research company that studies eating trends. Some experts said that the price cut could simply siphon off existing customers from other hamburger chains, like Wendy's and Burger King. The 55-cent offer will rotate from the Big Mac to the Quarter Pounder to other sandwiches over the next year.īut it is not entirely clear that increased traffic will translate into more people eating more fast food. McDonald's franchisees voted on Saturday to accept the new pricing, which will begin on April 26. The company is losing market share to other burger chains, and its pioneering Egg McMuffin-based breakfast has suffered the indignity of bagelmania. Sales at individual McDonald's that have been open more than a year have been falling for the last six quarters. By steeply discounting its flagship sandwich, now around $2, McDonald's is expecting an immediate and sizable increase in foot traffic. ''The away-from-home impact is not as major an impact on the diet of an individual as one would think.''Įconomists who follow the fast-food business say that its customers are highly cost-sensitive. ''The total effect on fat will be a slight increase, not a huge increase,'' he said. Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina who also holds a doctorate in economics, said that research shows that people who eat high-fat foods at restaurants also eat high-fat foods at home. There are 8,000 or so overseas.īut not all nutritionists expect inexpensive Big Macs to lead to ruin. McDonald's growth also went into hyperdrive starting in the 80's, from 5,213 outlets in the United States in 1980 to more than 12,000 today. The number of overweight people, after holding steady at a quarter of the population in the 1960's and 70's, shot up to 33 percent in the 80's, according to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. ![]() We would expect to see the trend of increasing body weights also.''Ĭall it coincidence, but the increase of overweight Americans roughly tracks the era of McDonald's greatest empire building. ''We will continue to see the amount of fat and saturated fat in the American diet go up. ''It's a nutritionist's nightmare,'' she said of the 55-cent price. Marion Nestle, the chairwoman of the department of nutrition and food studies at New York University, was blunter. ''They contribute more artery-clogging fat than any other single food. ''Hamburgers are already the worst food in the average American's diet,'' said Bonnie Liebman, the director of nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington advocacy group. ![]()
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