Takeaway joints roasted for obesity crisis, but are they to blame?

While other countries around the world have already been put on strict diets in an attempt to curb obesity, an alarming new report by Deakin University’s Global Obesity Centre has ranked Australia’s fast food chains and the steps each one is taking to promote healthier eating – and the results aren’t looking good. 

According to the report, the country’s favourite takeaway restaurants simply aren’t doing enough to stop obesity and need to do more to promote healthier options. The report outlined a series of key recommendations, including that water be the default drink for children’s fast food meals, and kilojules be cut from meal deals. 

While the report condemned fast food outlets for their lack of healthy options, it begs the question as to whether they should even be held accountable for people’s dietary choices, given most takeaway joints don’t try to hide the fact their food isn’t healthy.  

The report’s lead author Associate Professor Gary Sacks said takeaway foods are a large portion of average diets these days, which is why fast food outlets need to start taking responsibility.

“The average Australian household spends almost 32 per cent of its food budget on takeaway and eating out, and the average fast food meal provides up to half of an adult’s daily energy requirements,” he said. “Unhealthy diets are creating a public health crisis in Australia. Every part of our community, including the fast food sector, needs to do their part in making the healthy choice the easy choice for all Australians.”

The report was met with support from those in the health industry, with Health & Wellbeing nutrition and lifestyle coach Sarah Hopkins saying she wasn’t surprised by the findings.

“I’m not surprised by this recent research and definitely agree that most fast food outlets are not doing enough to curb obesity,” she told Starts at 60. “Unfortunately, most fast foods are high in calories, inflammatory fats and highly processed sugars, so providing more transparency around nutritional information is likely not desirable for profits.”

The Inside our Quick Service Restaurants report analysed 11 of the biggest food outlets in Australia, based on their policies and commitments to address obesity and population nutrition issues. Each company was ranked out of 100, and Domino’s Pizza came at the bottom with just three points.

The report sets out numerous priorities for fast food companies including offering water, side salads and fresh fruit as the default option in meals, reducing levels of salt, sugar and saturated fats in menu options, making healthy options similar in price to unhealthy options, as well as reducing the advertising of unhealthy products.

A Domino’s spokesperson told Starts at 60 the pizza company already meets and exceeds a number of recommendations made in the report – despite receiving the lowest ranking of all outlets.

“Domino’s has proudly announced our move to ingredients that are better for our customers, we have reduced sodium across our range, reduced the fat in our cheese, and are working on removing all artificial colours, flavours and preservatives,” the spokesperson said. “Domino’s does not market to children, nor feature children in our advertising. This is something we feel passionately about and is a core driver of our brand values Domino’s includes kilojoule menu board labelling in all states, as well as on our website and marketing.”

The spokesperson added that since 2016, more vegetables and vegetarian options have been added to the range and more than 96 per cent of ingredients are free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives, while the entire menu is MSG and GMO free.

Still, Sacks said takeaway outlets need to be doing more – especially when it came to advertising.

“The majority of items we see heavily promoted are unhealthy ones, like $1 Frozen Cokes, which clock in at more than 15 teaspoons of sugar, or two-for-one Whoppers, which each contain a whopping 40 grams of fat,” he said. “In contrast, healthier options are typically priced much higher and are rarely offered as part of special deals. It’s all about making the healthy option the easy option, and that means making it more affordable too.”

Of all the fast food outlets, Subway came out on top with 48 points, followed by McDonald’s and KFC with 42 and 41 points. Grill’d, Oporto and Red Rooster also appeared on the lower end of the ranking, with 10, 11 and 12 points respectfully.

For Hopkins, getting the proper health message out there was important.

“I believe there needs to be more education around the long and short-term effects of consuming these foods regularly,” she told Starts at 60. “Particularly given we now have things like Uber Eats making fast foods even more convenient.”

What do you think? Are takeaway outlets doing enough?