030707 America's Two-For-One Portions Are Double Trouble

Washington - A move by one of the world's biggest makers of processed foods to cut portions is just a first step in the US-led war on obesity but experts say consumers have to totally rethink the way they eat.

Doctors in the United States, which is the worst-hit by the epidemic spreading around the developed world, say they despair at fast-food restaurants where the large portions of fries costs less than a small one.

So while Kraft's announcement that it will get experts to recommend a healthy maximum size for one-person portions, stop marketing in schools and possibly change the recipes of its products, experts said it was only a first step.

"I think it's about time," said Judith Stern, a professor of nutrition and medicine at the University of California-Davis and vice president of the American Obesity Association.

With obesity or overweight now affecting at least 65 percent of adult Americans, according to government figures, and some experts saying there are 300,000 deaths a year linked to obesity, Stern said the country suffers from "portion disorder".

"We tend to look at a meal and we say that more is better," she told AFP.

Stern decried the fast food companies that offer double portions of French fries or soft drinks for less than a normal size. Even the size of plates has grown over the past two decades to cater for the bigger meals consumed, she added.

The anti-obesity campaigner said cutting portions, as proposed by Kraft, could be a good way to get people to cut down. Particularly if the trend is followed.

But she warned that Kraft, and any rivals that follow, could see a fall in sales as the US public is so focused on looking for high value meals.

Stern also suspects that fear of lawsuits is as much a motive for cutting portions as a desire to cut obesity. "I hope health would be the most important factor but often the bottom line is profit," she said.

Kraft, whose globally known brands include Oreo cookies and Philadelphia cream cheese, has joined the likes of McDonald's and other big names who have changed menus and recipes following growing criticism from health advocates.

McDonald's, which still faces a law suit from obese children over its hamburgers, has already started promoting its salads and launched an initiative to help promote healthier foods and provide expanded product information.

But authorities in the United States and other industrialised countries are increasingly alarmed at the obesity problem.

And Stern and other experts say the obesity figures show no sign of peaking yet.

Audrey Austin, a specialist on edocrinology at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, said that Kraft's initiative was "a step in the right direction"

"If other companies follow suit it will be a great help," she added.

Austin also highlighted the commercial pressures on the food industry however.

With restaurants under pressure to provide tasty meals and stay in business, Austin said "people are eating in one meal the amount of saturated fat they need in a day."

Austin and other specialists say they are seeing children with diabetes, heart and kidney disease, menstruation problems and other potentially fatal illnesses caused by obesity. Several studies are suggesting that being overweight significantly cuts life expectancy.

"I have tried to talk with companies and tried to tell them to cut down portion sizes," said Austin. "But if it tastes good people want more."

But she added that there was a growing risk as well of companies facing more financially punishing lawsuits. "These people are going to have to be reasonable about what they produce."

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