I learned through a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation newsletter that the Walt Disney Company is making some changes for its guests and employees - healthier food options. They have also made drastic changes in their advertising policy - in order to protect children from junk food ads.
Disney has a publicly available document that explains the criteria they are using to determine a foods healthiness and I think, it has to meet this criteria in order for it to be advertised on its TV channels. I thought that the standards were for foods that they would be selling in their theme parks - but I may have made that up in my head. You can view the document here. You can also visit the website to learn more and to check my assumption that they are only selling foods that meet criteria. Either way they are doing a good thing.
It is noteworthy and appropriate that they are modeling their standards after the Dietary Guidelines for Americans much as the IOM did with its recommendations for front of pack systems and the National School Lunch Program. I double checked in my notebook to see if they had this right - i.e. <600mg of sodium for a meal seemed high to me, but it was noted as criteria for healthy in the FOP dialogue. It is a much lesser amount on a per food basis. The sugar and saturated fat criteria is also appropriate. The sugar one is actually commendable - though they have exceptions.
I have been reading more from the folks at Harvard - home of Walter Willett and though I mentioned this before, i.e. the Better My Plate - they have some difference of opinion on foods to limit and include - from the DGAs. I will talk more about that in a separate post. For now, let's just give Disney a "kudos."
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