Here’s a few excerpts from my citations for those who haven’t looked at them.
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published in the prestigious Journal for the American Medical Association:
*"A growing obesity epidemic is threatening the health of millions of Americans in the United States…
According to the findings, the obesity epidemic spread rapidly during the 1990s across all states, regions, and demographic groups in the United States. Obesity (defined as being over 30% above ideal body weight) in the population increased from 12% in 1991 to 17.9% in 1998. The highest increase occurred among the youngest ages (18- to 29-year-olds), people with some college education, and people of Hispanic ethnicity. By region, the largest increases were seen in the South, with a 67% increase in the number of obese people. Georgia had the largest increase ? 101%. The findings also show that a major contributor to obesity ? physical inactivity ? has not changed substantially between 1991 and 1998."
According to this article in the the UK Independent (similar to the New York Times):
*"There is certainly no problem in eating well in the cosmopolitan big cities [in the United States], where the health kick has long since brought in its wake organic vegetables, farmers’ markets, sun-dried tomatoes from Italy and home-made bread. But once you head inland from the coasts, away from the big population centers and the college towns, you find not only that the fancy olive oils and foreign specialty foods have vanished; and so, too, have most of the fruits and vegetables and, with them, the very notion of unprocessed fresh food. It’s a straightforward question of availability, giving the lie to food industry claims that consumers can exercise free choice in deciding what to put in their mouths: in the heartland, the chains and big supermarkets have, by and large, taken over, and the few remaining family-owned businesses tend to survive through imitation rather than by providing any significant alternative. Thinness and healthy eating are increasingly becoming the preserve of the wealthy and the educated living in privileged urban cocoons.
Fast-food chains and soda vendors have penetrated college campuses and even state-run schools, where they have successfully offered sponsorship to cash-strapped school districts in exchange for the right to install their vending machines outside the classrooms. They have even invaded hospitals. While the cafeteria at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, one of the premier research hospitals in the country, offers sushi made on the premises and a full salad bar, at the main hospital in Toledo, Ohio, in the heart of the Midwestern rust belt, the only catering is provided by McDonald’s."*
Here is an excerpt from the ABC News article on Fast Food Nation, a recent book that has called attention to the subject:
*
“People should know what they’re eating, and how it’s made; they should spend their money at places that make food well,” Schlosser [the author of the book] told Good Morning America. “Nobody is forcing people to eat this stuff, and fast food places will change when customers demand changes.”
Even if 2 percent to 3 percent of customers complained, it would make a big drop in sales, Schlossberg said. The fast food companies aren’t out to harm us. But what is good for them in the short run, is not good for us in the long run."*
From the same article we learn that:
" U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher issued a “call to action” in mid-December, saying some 300,000 deaths a year are related to obesity, and calling for the removal of fast-food from schools."
I think it’s clear that we have a problem here and the problem most clearly concerns the young, and the poor and/or uneducated.
Fenris, I don’t think McDonald’s or any other company is entitled to make profit marketing fatty foods and empty-calorie soft drinks to public school kids. Those kids are sitting ducks. If fast-food chains are not willing to modify their menus accordingly, I say (along with the US surgeon general) get them out of public schools. Why? Because my property taxes go to support those schools, and my taxes subsidize the health-related costs of obesity. Not least of all, my child attends those schools.
As to not teaching nutrition in schools, say what? Last time I looked nutrition was a part of science and of phys ed. How can you possibly argue otherwise? It’s one thing to say that you wouldn’t require fast-food chains to promote nutrition in order to serve meals in public schools; it’s another to argue that schools shouldn’t teach nutrition. Schools should and usually do.
Sua, I agree with you that this suit is a turkey but, for the same reason, I think it’s absurd to maintain that defending against it will result in a price rise on the Big Mac. It might have a minor impact on corporate profits in the short term but, unless it’s successful that’s about it. And I doubt very much that MacD’s will settle; that would be inviting more suits.
Now, my hypotheticals.
Leaner-line foods. This would be up to MacDonald’s et.al. to sell or not to sell. Fenris it’s quite possible that with rising awareness of obesity there will be more demand for a leaner product. Maybe McLean tasted like crap and a superior product wouldn’t. As to McVeggie, they are sold in Britain, fairly successfully, where there are more vegetarians (though I doubt very much that they’re particularly healthy because they’re as greasy as can be).
Promotional literature: McDonald’s is always giving out promotional stuff of all kinds. This would probably be good business for them. This kind of stuff doesn’t cost very much as it’s boilerplate. It’s not as though McDonald’s has to suddenly come up with its own research on a balanced diet. If McDonald’s found this wasn’t helping them or was breaking the bank, they’d be free to stop: I was suggesting this as a voluntary act–the way that McD’s voluntarily takes part in charitable enterprises–not as a state-mandated action.
Guinastasia, FWIW I probably go to McD’s more than you do. It’s the best place to take your kid to play when it’s raining or cold. Little Mandelstamo likes everything about the place: from the crappy little Disney tie-in toys, to the McNuggets, to the chocolate milk that I buy him to replace the soda. Mr. Mandelstam, whose metabolism oughta be for sale, likes the two-for-a-buck apple pies. Yours truly, who is on the svelte side, eats the McShaker salad–vegetarian as I don’t eat chicken (if you can call what McD’s puts in their salads “chicken”–which is, er, palatable.
Obviously any individual or family can visit McDonald’s, Wendy’s, the Colonel’s or wherever once a month or even twice a week without suddenly becoming obese. But there is a growing problem out there though it’s probably not one that, demographically speaking, is likely to hit the kind of relatively well-educated people who spend their leisure time on the Straight Dope.
Elitists! 
Obesity is not going to go away as a trend. The McDonald’s suit, IMO, will go nowhere but public awareness will hopefully grow by other means and hopefully communities will get fast food joints out of their public schools. Otherwise we, as a nation, will pay the price.
Recognizing that a problem exists and taking reasonable measures to combat it, as a society, is just common sense. Not everybody has the same advantages when they are growing up. Nanny-state my (slim, well-educated, and relatively prosperous) ass.
