McDonald's Corp.'s packaging makes preschoolers think its Chicken McNuggets, hamburgers and french fries taste better, according to a Stanford University study aimed at reducing childhood obesity.
"Specific branding can alter young children's taste preferences," according to an article in the August issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Thomas Robinson, the author and a pediatrician at Stanford's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, said food companies should serve healthier items to help stem rising childhood obesity rates.
Sixty-three children who took part in the research tasted foods and beverages from McDonald's, some of them served in regular McDonald's packaging and some in plain paper. The kids, who ranged in age from 3 to 5 years old, preferred the taste of the items in the McDonald's wrappers.
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