A British teenager reportedly collapsed from eating mostly chicken nuggets for 15 years sparks new concerns for parents about kids, fast food and health. Stacey Irvine, a 17-year-old British girl, was rushed to the hospital struggling to breathe and doctors found out about her fast food obsession, says the Daily Mail. Here are details for parents about fast food health issues.
* According to the Daily Mail , Irvine's mother says that despite attempts to get the child to eat healthier, her daughter has eaten nothing but chicken nuggets since she was 2 years old. She has never eaten a fruit or vegetable. Physicians found that blood vessels in Irvine's tongue were swollen from her high intake of sodium. Irvine was also anemic.
* Irvine says she is addicted to chicken nuggets and probably won't quit eating them. McDonald's and other fast food purveyors have been blamed before for creating food addictions, especially in children. In 2002, several obese teens and their parents sued McDonald's saying their addiction to fast food made them fat, reports Fox News.
* In 2003, the BBC published a report from Princeton University that said high-sugar, high-salt, fatty foods can be as addictive as heroin. Laboratory rats fed a sugary diet showed symptoms of anxiety when they didn't get it. High-fat foods were found to produce feelings of euphoria.
* In 2004, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock chronicled his experiment to eat nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days in his documentary "Supersize Me." Along with numerous health problems brought on by the McDonald's-only diet, Spurlock said he became increasingly addicted to the food and experienced withdrawal symptoms similar to quitting smoking.
* In 2011, AOL Daily Finance reported that in response to health claims, McDonald's gave Happy Meals a healthier makeover. The chain began to serve apples and caramel dip as a substitute for french fries. It later did away with the sugary sauce. Depending on the region and season, children will have the choice of pineapple, raisins, carrots and oranges in place of fries, too. Fat content dropped and McDonald's began using 1 percent milk and fat-free chocolate milk.
* In December, San Francisco passed a law that parents will have to order a healthy kids meal for their children if they want the free toy. CNN says the meals must contain fewer than 600 calories, a half-cup serving of fresh fruit and a three-quarters-cup serving of vegetables. Meals must have less than 35 percent of the total calories coming from fat, less than 640 milligrams of sodium and less than 0.5 milligrams of trans fat.
Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about parenting from 23 years raising four children and 25 years teaching K-8, special needs, adult education and home-school.
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