0:00:02 > 0:00:05Britain is the grip of an obesity epidemic.
0:00:05 > 0:00:0824 million of us are now overweight,
0:00:08 > 0:00:12our appetites supersized by big business.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15'I'm Jacques Peretti and in this programme I'm going to tell
0:00:15 > 0:00:19'the story of the men who trapped us into eating more.'
0:00:20 > 0:00:25He realised that if he increase the portions, that he could sell more
0:00:25 > 0:00:28because people didn't like the idea of going back for two.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33I'll be revealing the decisions taken behind closed doors
0:00:33 > 0:00:35that ushered in and era of excess.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40They changed the rules because then everyone started running around
0:00:40 > 0:00:43thinking, "We've got to make a bigger buck."
0:00:43 > 0:00:51This Double Gulp is 64oz of soda and nearly 50 teaspoons of sugar.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55How clever marketing persuaded us that more is good...
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Did anyone order that just for themselves?
0:00:58 > 0:01:01People have done that before too.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03..that went too far.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07That's probably not in our best health interests
0:01:07 > 0:01:10but that's OK, I'm not a doctor, I'm a doughnut salesman.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14One of the really quantifiable things
0:01:14 > 0:01:17of the last 25 years is the increase in portion size.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32MUSIC: "Park Life" by Blur
0:01:32 > 0:01:35We live in a world of overabundance, where big is best
0:01:35 > 0:01:37and value means more.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47I'd like to order a breakfast but I don't know what to order, you've got so much.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52I've come to this diner in Great Yarmouth
0:01:52 > 0:01:54to find Britain's biggest breakfast.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00- How hungry are you?- Quite hungry. - Quite hungry?
0:02:00 > 0:02:03- Yeah.- We've got the Big Boy or we've got the Fat Boy.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Or if you really fancy it, we've got the Jester Challenge kid's breakfast.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09- The kid's breakfast? - Yeah, kid's breakfast.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12- What's the kid's breakfast? - It weighs the same as a small child.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15- Oh, right. Is that why it's the kid's breakfast?- Absolutely.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19- Round about 9½lbs.- 9½lbs?- Yeah.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22- What does that involve?- An eight-egg cheese and potato omelette,
0:02:22 > 0:02:2912 bacon, 12 sausage, sauteed potatoes, mushrooms,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31hash browns, black pudding,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34four fried bread, four toast, four bread and butter.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36- All on the same plate? - All on the same plate.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39- Wow.- £15. If you eat it in an hour, you get your money back.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43- I have to eat it in an hour? - Eat it in an hour.- The whole lot.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46By yourself, no help, no-one holding your hand - all you.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50- We normally serve about two a day.- Two a day?
0:02:50 > 0:02:53- So two people every. Well. - Two epic fails every day.
0:02:53 > 0:02:54Possibly three today.
0:02:59 > 0:03:00There we go, sir.
0:03:00 > 0:03:07If you'd like to move your drink. Thank you. One kid's breakfast.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09You have one hour. There you go.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12There we go.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15That is unbelievable. Can I just ask you a question?
0:03:15 > 0:03:17How did you come to introduce this breakfast?
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Um, well we kept getting told that the Fat Boy wasn't big enough, so.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23It wasn't big enough, so you thought you'd introduce this?
0:03:23 > 0:03:27We thought we'd sort of blow it out of the water a little bit and go to the excess.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Obviously it's not something you should eat every day. It is a challenge.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39'The kid's breakfast would have been unthinkable a few years ago
0:03:39 > 0:03:44'but that was before we got an appetite for American style supersizing.'
0:03:50 > 0:03:57- How are we doing?- I'm done. - You're done?! Shut up!- Oh, look!
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Look how much I've eaten. I haven't even made a dent.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04- I'd die of shame first, me. What a baby.- I'd die of heart disease.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08- What a baby.- Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13'Ours has become a world where food is available day and night,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16'24/7, wherever and whenever we want it.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21'But this overconsumption is killing us.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25'More than 60% of men and women in Britain are overweight or obese,
0:04:25 > 0:04:31'yet many of us are still unaware of the hidden dangers of overeating.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:34If you want to step up onto there.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37'I'm about to have an MRI scan that will reveal
0:04:37 > 0:04:40'all the fat inside my body.'
0:04:40 > 0:04:43Literally we scan you from the top of your head to your toes.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46And we look at both the fat that you can see externally
0:04:46 > 0:04:48but also the fat around the organs.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54There we go.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00- Get you back down to ground. Just get your balance.- Righto.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03- So these are my results? - These are your results.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08You have quite a bit of internal fat, visceral fat, surrounding your organs.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12This actually could be quite troublesome for your health.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16I would say you have four to five litres of internal fat
0:05:16 > 0:05:18that you're carrying around your organs.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23- Four to five litres?! - Yes.- And is that normal?
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Um, we expect someone of your age,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29someone who's fit, to have less than two litres of internal fat.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32- Wow! So I've twice as much fat inside...- Inside. - ..than I should have?- Yes.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34MUSIC: "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones
0:05:34 > 0:05:37So when did we all start overeating?
0:05:37 > 0:05:41And who was it that decided we should eat bigger and bigger portions?
0:05:47 > 0:05:50The answer lies not in Britain
0:05:50 > 0:05:54but 4,000 miles away across the Atlantic in America.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09Here in downtown Chicago is where the story of supersizing began.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13Not in a fast-food restaurant and not in a supermarket,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16but in this cinema where a man called David Wallerstein
0:06:16 > 0:06:20would have a eureka moment that would change the way we eat for ever.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41'Wallerstein was the man who created supersizing.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46'In 1967, as area manager of the Balaban cinema chain,
0:06:46 > 0:06:50'he came up with a novel way of increasing profits...
0:06:51 > 0:06:53'..supersize the popcorn.'
0:06:58 > 0:07:00Americans were not used to buying multiple
0:07:00 > 0:07:02popcorns or drinks
0:07:02 > 0:07:07so the idea came to him to increase the size into much larger sizes.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12By making cartons bigger he could charge cinemagoers more -
0:07:12 > 0:07:14far more than the cost of the extra popcorn.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18Darren Tristano has advised the world's largest food companies,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22among them McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Burger King.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27Most of the cost is in the bucket. The popcorn is very inexpensive.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29It didn't cost very much to increase the size.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Likewise with the soda pop.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35A lot of it was syrup based, very low cost associated with it -
0:07:35 > 0:07:36water, not very expensive.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44'People loved the bigger popcorn buckets and taller drinks.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48'Sales and profit soared. The supersize portion was born.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55'Wallerstein was hot property and was head-hunted by McDonald's,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58'who appointed him to their board.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00'Fired up with his brilliant new way of making money,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03'Wallerstein was determined to apply it to the burger chain.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10'Mike Donahue was vice president of McDonald's for 20 years
0:08:10 > 0:08:14'before leaving to open his own burger restaurant.'
0:08:14 > 0:08:17David Wallerstein was a creative, brilliant genius
0:08:17 > 0:08:20when it came to promotions and other things.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26'But Wallerstein faced unlikely opposition from within McDonald's.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29'Founder Ray Kroc was fiercely opposed to offering larger portions.
0:08:29 > 0:08:35'He simply didn't believe people needed or wanted more food.'
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Ray Kroc who at McDonald's had a war room.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42It was a padded room so if they had disagreements,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44you went up to the war room
0:08:44 > 0:08:46and his idea was, "Let's get them out in the open."
0:08:48 > 0:08:51So I think they had a bit of a boardroom squabble
0:08:51 > 0:08:55with Wallerstein over it because Wallerstein wouldn't let it go.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Wallerstein's persistence paid off.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00Kroc reluctantly agreed to let him
0:09:00 > 0:09:04test out his theory in a McDonald's in Chicago.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06DARREN TRISTANO: What he did was he sat in the restaurant
0:09:06 > 0:09:09and he observed behaviour.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18So what an American consumer would do is to tip
0:09:18 > 0:09:22that carton of French fries way back to get every little bit
0:09:22 > 0:09:25of salt granule and every little portion of fry in the bottom of the box.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Wallerstein called this the salt slide.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33He argued that it proved customers wanted more
0:09:33 > 0:09:36but weren't going to go back for a second helping.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48He realised that if he increased the portions, um, that he could sell more.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53Um, because people didn't like the idea of going back for two,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55or didn't like the idea of looking as if
0:09:55 > 0:09:59they were committing one of the deadly sins of gluttony.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Reluctantly Kroc took Wallerstein's advice.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05In 1972 a new larger portion of fries was introduced.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09The world was never going to be the same again.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12And, for the customer, it seemed a great deal.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14It was a notion that people would have,
0:10:14 > 0:10:20that if we provide more food the price isn't as high as two fries
0:10:20 > 0:10:24but somewhere in the middle - that's value for the consumer.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29For McDonald's it was a gold mine.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Most of the costs of their business were fixed, like wages and rent.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36But the cost of the food was cheap.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Like popcorn, adding a few fries didn't cost much
0:10:40 > 0:10:43but it did allow them to charge more
0:10:43 > 0:10:46and this generated HUGE additional profits.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Across America, other fast-food chains
0:10:58 > 0:11:03started selling bigger portions of foods high in sugar and fat.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12This new world of plenty held hidden risks.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15And the impact on public health from this change
0:11:15 > 0:11:18in eating patterns was still unknown.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21- Hot dog, please.- Want the big one, right?- Yes, please.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24A bit of ketchup, a bit of relish.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Wow, that looks great. That is a proper hot dog.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34- It's called a Georgia hot, a little spicy.- Are your hot dogs the best? - It's the best in town, right here!
0:11:34 > 0:11:38- Wow, are we serious? Are these a dollar?- These are a dollar.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42- A dollar makes me holler. - Can I get a hot dog? - Oh, they want a hotdog. OK.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44- They're really good.- I want to get one.- They're really good.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48- Roast and sauerkraut.- Thank you.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00'But one man was about to make a startling discovery.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05'In 1974 at City University in New York, a psychology professor -
0:12:05 > 0:12:09'Anthony Sclafani - was studying appetite and behaviour.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12'For his research he needed laboratory rats to overeat.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16'However, on a diet of rat food it was proving a slow process.'
0:12:19 > 0:12:21We were looking for rapid weight gain.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25So after trying several different high fat diets,
0:12:25 > 0:12:26I told my graduate student
0:12:26 > 0:12:30to go to the supermarket and get food that people liked to eat.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34We got chocolate chip cookies and candy and milk,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36and they started to overeat immediately.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40And when you saw them overeating, were you surprised? What was your feeling?
0:12:40 > 0:12:45We were surprised by how rapid it was, and basically all of the animals were overeating.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48And how quickly would the animals gain weight?
0:12:48 > 0:12:51They start to gain weight immediately.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Like the next day they start putting on some weight,
0:12:54 > 0:12:56and then each day it's increasing
0:12:56 > 0:12:59until they reach a new level of body weight.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Given these sugary, fatty foods in abundance,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Sclafani's rats ate until they became obese.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11And there's a reason why.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Rats share the same biological drive as humans.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17They seek out high-calorie food in times of plenty
0:13:17 > 0:13:20to ensure their survival once food becomes scarce.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26We are biologically programmed to find foods that provide ready energy.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31If we only eat a little bit of these foods,
0:13:31 > 0:13:37or they're only occasionally available, there's nothing inherently wrong with sugar or fat.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40It's just the abundance of it that makes it every difficult to resist.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42It's there at every turn.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Some people refer to it as the toxic food environment.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54'Sclafani's research held within it a serious warning,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57'the behaviour he observed in rats would be repeated in humans.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02'For the food industry it represented a lucrative opportunity.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04'It now knew what Sclafani knew.'
0:14:06 > 0:14:09What we find hardest to resist are foods rich in sugar and fat.
0:14:09 > 0:14:10And by the late '70s,
0:14:10 > 0:14:15Americans were being offered these foods in ever larger portions.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Back in Britain, the fast-food revolution was yet to take off.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36In the 1970s, less than 2% of adults were obese.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Family meals were still eaten at home.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43But when Wimpy imported the American diner style restaurant,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45with its menu of burgers and fries,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49it opened up a whole new way of eating.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51As marketing director at Wimpy,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Peter Smale helped pioneer the change.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57'We find it is amazing how quickly people get used to'
0:14:57 > 0:14:58this new style of food.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00They don't need very much educating
0:15:00 > 0:15:03and the kids love it straight away, there's no doubt about that.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05It's the thing of the future.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08In America, all hamburgers are sold in this way.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12But it was the arrival of McDonald's in Britain
0:15:12 > 0:15:16that was to really transform the way Britons ate.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19What happened was that McDonald's, when they first came in,
0:15:19 > 0:15:23held the price of the main products, the burgers, for year after year.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27And that meant that the food became much more competitive in price
0:15:27 > 0:15:30and people could afford to eat out more.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Suddenly it wasn't an expensive experience to take the family
0:15:33 > 0:15:35to eat in a fast-food place.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41Another huge change was on the way that would boost profits.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44It was all to do with speed - counter service.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47- Eat in or takeaway?- Eat in, love.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51This is the site where the first Wimpy counter service
0:15:51 > 0:15:53was opened in about 1980.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56We realised that McDonald's were serious and so we decided
0:15:56 > 0:16:00that we had to respond and build our own counter service system.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03It was so much faster at serving customers.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06It had much higher sales potential
0:16:06 > 0:16:09and it allowed us to serve a lot more people.
0:16:09 > 0:16:10In a store this sort of size,
0:16:10 > 0:16:12you could cope with £1 million worth of sales.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Whereas if it was table service,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16£200,000 or £300,000 would be the most you could take.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20- That's in a year?- In a year, yes.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23The fact that you were taking five or six times as much money
0:16:23 > 0:16:25simply as a result of bringing in counter service,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27that was like Fordism or something.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30It's like the invention of the motorcar, you know.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33It transformed the whole industry.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46Pressure to supersize came from an unexpected quarter.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50In the 1980s, one of the world's largest suppliers
0:16:50 > 0:16:54of fast-food packaging - the Sweetheart Cup Company -
0:16:54 > 0:16:58sent out this marketing material to British restaurants.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01They said offering larger cup sizes
0:17:01 > 0:17:04could be an easy way to boost sales and profits.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15The packaging giant urged the fast-food industry to sell customers
0:17:15 > 0:17:19the idea that bigger sizes give them more for their money.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22They promised that their bigger packaging
0:17:22 > 0:17:25would make customers hungry for bigger portions.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31They'd realised that companies can make more money
0:17:31 > 0:17:35by upselling - offering bigger portions.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Obviously they made more money as a supplier out of selling bigger cups.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42So it's kind of a virtual circle
0:17:42 > 0:17:46that if they could encourage the caterers in this country, cafe operators,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49to use and offer bigger portions, then everybody won.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55The idea of having the three sizes would be that it gives the customer
0:17:55 > 0:18:00choice and the staff can ask a question like,
0:18:00 > 0:18:02"Is that the large size?"
0:18:02 > 0:18:06which is much easier for them to do. In those days particularly, people didn't feel
0:18:06 > 0:18:11confident about upselling, trying to push people to have something else.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13Whereas if it was just a choice of three
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and they assumed the large one, that was simple.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19You know, it didn't put pressure on the staff.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30So was there any sense that this was something that could be bad,
0:18:30 > 0:18:35or that, um, this would have any impact? Was there any debate at all?
0:18:35 > 0:18:41No. In the '70s, nutrition was about getting more into people, you know.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43It was not that long after the war
0:18:43 > 0:18:48and there was no concern about obesity.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51It was important that people got enough nutrition.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55And so when these sort of initiatives were started,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58I don't recall there being a single comment
0:18:58 > 0:19:01about it being bad for the family or bad for the kids.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10Across Britain, the new counter-service restaurants
0:19:10 > 0:19:14offered faster food for a faster lifestyle.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19People had ready access to cheap food on the go.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21When I was small,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24people would really frown upon you if you were eating on the streets.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26That was really not the thing to do. And now,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30I'll sometimes see people having a three-course meal on the train.
0:19:30 > 0:19:36Um, it's quite extraordinary the way that social norms have changed.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40BIG BEN STRIKES
0:19:45 > 0:19:48The irony was that as fast food was taking off in Britain
0:19:48 > 0:19:52in the 1980s, in America the market was stagnating.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56But Tex-Mex chain Taco Bell had the answer...
0:19:58 > 0:20:01..using a form of discounting known in the industry as bundling,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04it launched the value meal.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09It was an innovation that dramatically increased
0:20:09 > 0:20:11the amount of calories being consumed.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19Bundling is a way that restaurants are able to bring together
0:20:19 > 0:20:25more items from different meal parts, so bringing into it a starter,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27a main dish sometimes, a desert
0:20:27 > 0:20:30and then a beverage in order to bring the check average up,
0:20:30 > 0:20:31get consumers to spend more
0:20:31 > 0:20:35and increase sales revenue for the restaurant.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40McDonald's didn't want to bring in the value meal,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44but by the late '80s food companies were under intense pressure
0:20:44 > 0:20:46from shareholders on Wall Street.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51With profits down, McDonald's had no choice but to make changes.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Hank Cardello is a former director of marketing at Coca-Cola,
0:20:58 > 0:21:00which supply drinks to the burger chain.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06When the fast-food restaurants first started
0:21:06 > 0:21:08and you would look up on the menu panel,
0:21:08 > 0:21:12it was just all individual items up there and it was very inefficient.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15People would back up and try and figure out what they wanted
0:21:15 > 0:21:18and all of a sudden they started losing customers cos the lines got too long.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Value meals offered a means of speeding up service.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31In our effort to try to move people through there quickly,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34so they didn't spend a lot of time in lines, we would chase seconds.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36That was a big part of it.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Every 15 seconds that you reduce
0:21:42 > 0:21:45in the time of delivery of that meal to the consumer...
0:21:47 > 0:21:50..adds 1% growth to the company.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Those 15 seconds would equate
0:21:55 > 0:21:59to an extra £290 million of profits in today's figures.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05It was a win/win for fast-food chains.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10Customers had an incentive to buy more food, and profits soared.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15We might offer a combo meal where we had a hamburger, some fries,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17a beverage.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21And let's say it cost me an extra quarter
0:22:21 > 0:22:25and maybe I only charge an extra 50 cents for it,
0:22:25 > 0:22:27so you get a great deal -
0:22:27 > 0:22:29you get three things for just an extra 50 cents.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34But now they have this tray in front of them
0:22:34 > 0:22:38that has three items, and I just paid for this, I'm going to eat it.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Even if I don't necessarily need to eat it all.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49So if I'm looking at all these extra French fries,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53which maybe I might not have ordered, it's in front of me.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02SULTRY MUSIC
0:23:08 > 0:23:10the value meal was rolled out globally.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14'You know you want the luscious taste of McDonald's big Mac...'
0:23:15 > 0:23:20Within three years it accounted for almost half of all meals sold.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22'The Colonel's crazy combo from just 2.95 -
0:23:22 > 0:23:27'choose from three different combos, burger, chips and a drink from 2.95
0:23:27 > 0:23:30'or chicken, chips and a drink for 2.95.'
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Three, two, one, go!
0:23:34 > 0:23:36And still the meals got bigger.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41'Wendy's super value menu has lots of delicious food, fries, drink...'
0:23:41 > 0:23:45under constant pressure from Wall Street to produce more profits,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48McDonald's rolled out a new super-size menu.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53In 1993 when Jurassic Park the movie came out
0:23:53 > 0:23:57and it was introduced with McDonald's and co-marketed...
0:23:57 > 0:24:00'In Jurassic Park, dinosaurs are on the loose,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03'but in McDonald's you can find them...'
0:24:03 > 0:24:05they actually came out with what they called dino sizes,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08which was an early introduction of super sizing.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11'Six Jurassic Park collector cups, get one free
0:24:11 > 0:24:14'when you buy are large drink or dino-sized extra value meal.'
0:24:22 > 0:24:25The promotion was so successful that super sizing became a fixture
0:24:25 > 0:24:29on the menu and was rapidly adopted by other restaurant chains.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35Big Mac meal and a chocolate shake please.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39People over-consume,
0:24:39 > 0:24:41some husbands say their wife over-consumes jewellery.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Others say they over-consume alcohol,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49drugs, food, clothing, cars.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Over-consumption is a proud part of being an American.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Today, in his own restaurant, Donahue serves what he calls
0:25:00 > 0:25:05right-sized portions of healthy food, each just 600 calories.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08But he is constant in his defence of McDonald's.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Value is good.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Most people really respect value,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18most people are looking for value in everything they do,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21so we thought we were doing a great service for our consumer.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24We knew that a family on a budget with appreciate the value.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29When buying a meal, customers of McDonald's were now asked,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31"Do you want to super-size that?"
0:25:31 > 0:25:34- Here you are, sir, a two-door spec.- Spec?
0:25:34 > 0:25:36Corporate America's drive for profit
0:25:36 > 0:25:39was creating ever-larger portions.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41McDonald's would later drop the super-sized meal
0:25:41 > 0:25:44blaming poor sales.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48- Super-size me. - Sure, what would you like?
0:25:48 > 0:25:50I don't care, just super-size me.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52We had big changes in the environment.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57It was a time when people were becoming increasingly conscious
0:25:57 > 0:26:01of super-sizing, and seeing that often the larger portion
0:26:01 > 0:26:04was offered at a proportionally lower cost.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07It was often a good deal to go large.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11People fooled themselves that that was good value for money
0:26:11 > 0:26:15because if they ate a big deal now and paid relatively little,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17they would need less food later.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22This is the Super Big Gulp, also known as the double gulp.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24It used to be the big gulp,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28but that wasn't big enough so now we have a double gulp.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31It's nearly two litres of Coke in here.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34That's a third of a man's daily calorie intake.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38More calories in here than in a meal.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40This is the American snack.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46That's a bucket, I can hardly hold the thing.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51And to go with it, a packet of crisps.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57As drinks sizes got bigger,
0:26:57 > 0:26:59more and more sugar poured into the American diet.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05Portion sizes have more than doubled.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10In fact they are about 2 to 5 times larger than they were in the 1950s.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14To get you a couple of examples, taking McDonalds
0:27:14 > 0:27:21which is the largest fast-food chain, a typical soda was seven ounces,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24this is eight ounces so it was a little bit smaller than this.
0:27:24 > 0:27:25That was an adult size?
0:27:25 > 0:27:29This was an adult size, and it was the only size they had available.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33And then, this is a small,
0:27:33 > 0:27:35which is double, this is the medium,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38and then we have this is the large.
0:27:38 > 0:27:44So this 32 ounce fits about a quart of soda.
0:27:44 > 0:27:50And so, in the 50s, this was pretty much the only size available?
0:27:50 > 0:27:52Exactly.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57But you can, not necessarily with McDonald's, but you can buy this.
0:27:57 > 0:28:05Yes, this double gulp is 64 ounces of soda, and without too much ice,
0:28:05 > 0:28:11it is about 800 calories and nearly 50 teaspoons of sugar.
0:28:11 > 0:28:12- Wow.- Yeah.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16- So, we have travelled from this in the '50s, to this.- Yes, exactly.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26If we compensated for eating larger portions by consuming less later,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29it wouldn't matter how much we eat or drink in a sitting.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34It was this assumption that exonerated the food industry
0:28:34 > 0:28:36from selling larger portion sizes.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40But controlled studies show the exact reverse to be true.
0:28:42 > 0:28:48- So, is this for both of us?- I think this is just one portion.- Oh, OK.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Good luck. I hope you're hungry!
0:28:50 > 0:28:54In the late 1990s, Professor Barbara Rolls was the first nutritionist
0:28:54 > 0:28:58to analyse how portion size contributed to obesity.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02We did a study in my lab where we increased the portions
0:29:02 > 0:29:06of everything everyone was served by 50 percent over 11 days.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09I could not believe the results,
0:29:09 > 0:29:15the people just kept overheating day after day by about 400 calories.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19Over the 11 days the accumulated almost 5,000 extra calories.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22That is enough to put on over one pound of body weight.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27And most of them didn't even notice that they were getting
0:29:27 > 0:29:29the bigger portions, that is the really scary thing.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33- So, the bigger portion, the more you will need as a result of having a bigger portion?- Right.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40Professor Rolls found that people were even more likely to eat
0:29:40 > 0:29:41larger portions if the food was rich in calories,
0:29:41 > 0:29:44so-called energy-dense foods like chocolate.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53Energy density is the calories that are packed into each bite,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57so it is calorie-dense - it is the same as energy dense.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01When you are eating big portions of calorie-dense foods,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04you are really at huge risk of overheating.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11What we found is that people tend to eat a very consistent weight
0:30:11 > 0:30:15or volume of food, so if you're packing more calories
0:30:15 > 0:30:16into that weight or volume,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19you're overeating without even knowing
0:30:23 > 0:30:26- So there is a double whammy there? - A double whammy, yes.
0:30:26 > 0:30:31The two influences independently combine to jack up your intake,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34so, calorie-dense foods and big portions mean your sunk.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36You're going to be overheating.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41But as rival food companies vied to offer consumers better value
0:30:41 > 0:30:44and more food, these warnings were ignored.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50Everything was getting bigger in America.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54Super-sizing was being implemented everywhere,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56in restaurants and in supermarkets.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59Big hadn't come to Britain yet, but it was about to.
0:31:12 > 0:31:13Britain had got a taste
0:31:13 > 0:31:17for the American style of eating outside the home.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20But it was a new marketing concept
0:31:20 > 0:31:22that would push up our calorie intake.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35The agency I worked at,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38we advertised Cadbury
0:31:38 > 0:31:41and we created the commercial,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44a finger of fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46# A finger of fudge is just enough...#
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Advertising creatives like Brian Watson
0:31:50 > 0:31:53began to persuade families that giving their children
0:31:53 > 0:31:57fattening snacks between meals was a good thing to do.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00One ad in particular for a brand-new chocolate bar
0:32:00 > 0:32:03did for Britain what super sizing popcorn
0:32:03 > 0:32:05had done for fast food in America.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09It proved to be an opening salvo in a battle between
0:32:09 > 0:32:13chocolate manufacturers to upsize chocolate bars.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Suddenly, Yorkie changed the game plan.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20They change the rules because everyone started
0:32:20 > 0:32:23running around thinking we've got to make a bigger bar.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26We've got to make a bigger bar that looks more like one of those
0:32:26 > 0:32:29bars that people eat all to themselves.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33# Good rich and thick, a milk chocolate brick... #
0:32:33 > 0:32:36Which is what they did. Cadbury then it came out with Cadbury's chunky,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39but suddenly the market was for something much chunkier, much bigger.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42That was the outcome of the advertising.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45What's amazing is that when you watch the Yorkie ads today,
0:32:45 > 0:32:46the Yorkie bar looks small.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50Yes, because they've gone bigger and bigger and bigger.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53It didn't stop there.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57In 1985 Mars launched its 100g bar.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01'Even more milk, more glucose, more sugar...'
0:33:01 > 0:33:05Twix and Snickers also put on weight and calories.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08But these bars targeted adults.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10Through advertisers,
0:33:10 > 0:33:14food manufacturers like Cadburys were finding new ways of
0:33:14 > 0:33:17increasing the amount of chocolate children ate during the day.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28They had this very successful box of chocolate biscuits,
0:33:28 > 0:33:32Cadbury's fingers, so, OK, how do you sell more of those?
0:33:32 > 0:33:35How do we get kids to eat more?
0:33:35 > 0:33:38The ad campaign that we did
0:33:38 > 0:33:42was based on giving kids the excuse to eat one.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46It was called Harry the spider's coming out party.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48My mum always gets the Cadbury's fingers out
0:33:48 > 0:33:51when there's a birthday in the house.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54There's been a lot of birthdays lately.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Yesterday was Napoleon's birthday...
0:33:58 > 0:34:01And, he says, "All of my soldiers had a birthday last week."
0:34:01 > 0:34:05Even the Fifth Battalion have had birthdays lately.
0:34:05 > 0:34:06The whole lot of them!
0:34:06 > 0:34:13And that culminates in the very last thing, another excuse for him
0:34:13 > 0:34:17to have more Cadbury fingers, is he opens a matchbox
0:34:17 > 0:34:20and he just sneakily says to the camera...
0:34:20 > 0:34:23And today is Harry the spider's coming out party!
0:34:28 > 0:34:31So, what we were doing was giving those kids the excuse
0:34:31 > 0:34:35to have a treat much more often than they would have done.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42There was now an excuse to eat them every day, at any time.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45and they became part of the school lunchbox.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49Was there an intention to target the lunchbox by advertising?
0:34:49 > 0:34:54The psychology there was to plant that thought into Mum's head,
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Put it in the lunchbox.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05As we came to see snacks as a normal part of a children's diet,
0:35:05 > 0:35:08sales rose and so did their weight.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11By the mid-'90s, more than 1 in 10 children were obese.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20Back in the '80s, Professor Philip James has been one of the first
0:35:20 > 0:35:23to identify obesity as a growing health risk.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29By 1996, the Government could no longer ignore the problem.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32Tessa Jowell, Minister for Public health,
0:35:32 > 0:35:35asked Professor James to produce a report on childhood obesity.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39He studied the food that British children were eating and buying.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42The results were startling.
0:35:43 > 0:35:51I suddenly discovered that actually, children were in a very new world.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54They were actually coming to school,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57and we could document that they spent,
0:35:57 > 0:36:02from memory I think it was £136 million a year,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05buying confectionery and soft drinks and so on,
0:36:05 > 0:36:07on their way to and from schools.
0:36:07 > 0:36:13And I was horrified by what they were actually eating.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Professor James produced a list of proposals.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18He urged government to look at the effect of advertising
0:36:18 > 0:36:21on the food children were eating.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25We had unanimous approval.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28I took it to the deputy chief medical office of health
0:36:28 > 0:36:32and the chief medical office of health, and it went to Tessa Jowell.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38What did she say?
0:36:38 > 0:36:42Complete silence, and then suddenly I was asked to come to see her
0:36:42 > 0:36:46and I thought, at last we are going to get going.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51And she said, "Thank you for your report,
0:36:51 > 0:36:57"it's really an extreme document, isn't it?"
0:36:57 > 0:36:59I said, "What?"
0:36:59 > 0:37:01And she said, "I think the Food
0:37:01 > 0:37:04"and Drink Federation is anxious to talk to you."
0:37:05 > 0:37:08The next day Professor James says he was invited to dinner with
0:37:08 > 0:37:12the Food and Drink Federation - the body representing the food industry.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17And I was suddenly confronted by,
0:37:17 > 0:37:21I think 14 chief executives of British business,
0:37:21 > 0:37:25and I was harangued for four hours
0:37:25 > 0:37:31as to why on Earth I would even think about limiting
0:37:31 > 0:37:32advertising to children
0:37:32 > 0:37:36when it was the parents' duty to work out what was required,
0:37:36 > 0:37:41and they had a basic right to advertise to children.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43What happened to your report?
0:37:43 > 0:37:47The report was never published by the Department of Health, it was shelved.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53Tessa Jowell says she doesn't agree that the report was widely
0:37:53 > 0:37:55welcomed by officials,
0:37:55 > 0:38:00adding that it was not unusual for a report to remain unpublished.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03As minister for public health, she was later instrumental
0:38:03 > 0:38:07in restricting adverts for junk food during children's TV programmes.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11But Professor James was right to be concerned.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15Six years later, in 2003,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18the country's chief medical officer warned of an obesity timebomb
0:38:18 > 0:38:23and called on food manufacturers to behave responsibly.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26With the spotlight on the food industry,
0:38:26 > 0:38:29the Parliamentary Health Committee called an inquiry.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Former Labour MP David Hinchcliffe chaired the committee.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39I don't think I appreciated,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43until we got into the detail of this inquiry, quite how powerful the food
0:38:43 > 0:38:47industry is in this country and quite how big a challenge we've got
0:38:47 > 0:38:49to get them to take responsibility
0:38:49 > 0:38:52for what they actually do sell to people.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58Super-sizing was high on the agenda, but under cross-examination,
0:38:58 > 0:39:03food companies including McDonald's, Pepsico and Cadburys were defensive.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07The regular comment was there is no such thing as bad food.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26But the committee demanded changes to protect public health.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29David, what were your recommendations?
0:39:29 > 0:39:34well, we felt that the industry should look at ending
0:39:34 > 0:39:36the policy of super-sizing.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39I think our mistake was to suggest this was a voluntary
0:39:39 > 0:39:41arrangement that could be agreed with the industry.
0:39:43 > 0:39:44Left to police itself,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46the food industry was unlikely
0:39:46 > 0:39:49to restrict the sale of super-size products,
0:39:49 > 0:39:51which were, after all, among its most profitable.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00The message we got from several of the companies was that
0:40:00 > 0:40:03they felt we were looking at the wrong issues in interviewing them
0:40:03 > 0:40:06as food producers and manufacturers.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11Their argument, very clearly, was that it was inactivity, personal inactivity,
0:40:11 > 0:40:16that was responsible for the significant increase in overweight and obesity in the UK.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21Suddenly, the food industry faced an attack on another front.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24In the city, investment bank JP Morgan
0:40:24 > 0:40:29was concerned about how the obesity crisis would impact on investments.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33The bank warned clients that legislation was coming,
0:40:33 > 0:40:35and the food industry marshalled its defence.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40Manufacturers fought legislation,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43and there was an argument they came back to again and again:
0:40:43 > 0:40:49We don't do enough exercise. We're a nation of couch potatoes.
0:40:49 > 0:40:56But the idea that children were getting fat simply because they were lazy was about to be challenged.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59At Derriford Hospital in Plymouth,
0:40:59 > 0:41:04endocrinologist Terry Wilkin has carried out ground-breaking research.
0:41:04 > 0:41:10It demonstrates that physical inactivity is not the main cause of obesity in children.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14People believe that children's physical activity has gone down.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17Everyone believes that. People who watch this programme will believe that.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19Is that what you found from your study?
0:41:19 > 0:41:23No. The assumption is that it is the inactivity
0:41:23 > 0:41:26that is the cause of the fatness.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29We've studied this very carefully, and we cannot find that.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32But what we can find, is the reverse.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37That the fatness, due perhaps to eating inappropriately,
0:41:37 > 0:41:39reduces physical activity.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Professor Wilkin came to this startling conclusion after setting out to discover
0:41:47 > 0:41:50why so many children were becoming dangerously overweight.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56And worse, some were going on to develop type II diabetes,
0:41:56 > 0:42:00a disease not previously seen in children.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03- 28 exactly.- 28 exactly.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08Type II diabetes was something you got in middle age or beyond.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11In fact, it was known as maturity onset diabetes.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16And then by the 1990s, the Americans were reporting children with a condition
0:42:16 > 0:42:21that only 30 years previously had been confined to late or middle age.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26300 children were recruited for the study.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30Each was fitted with an electronic device called an accelerometer.
0:42:30 > 0:42:36This accurately measured their activity levels at every minute of the day.
0:42:37 > 0:42:42It's got a little chip inside, a piezo electric chip inside it, which is sensitive to movement.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46Now, don't forget, five school days and two weekend days.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50- Take it off before I go to sleep? - Yes, please.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54And it will sample movement 10 times every second, 600 times a minute.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59The vast majority of physical activity that a child does is unstructured.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03Never gets recorded on a questionnaire or observations of this kind,
0:43:03 > 0:43:08but it doesn't fool the accelerometer. It knows what's happening all of the time.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13Each year, the information was collected and analysed.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16A startling pattern began to emerge.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20Children were no less active than they were 30 years ago.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23But if children's activity levels had not fallen away,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26why were so many of them becoming obese?
0:43:28 > 0:43:31Nowadays, much of what children eat is processed
0:43:31 > 0:43:36or comes from a fast-food outlet of some kind or another.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40Added to which, they eat a lot more of it.
0:43:40 > 0:43:45It's one of the really quantifiable things of the last 25 years, is the increase in portion size.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47People don't talk about it enough.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51There has been a huge increase in portion size.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55Professor Wilkin's research challenged the assumption
0:43:55 > 0:43:59that childhood obesity was caused by laziness.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04But when he resented his findings to the Department of Health, they were ignored.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09In 2005, the study lost its funding from government.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18I think objectively it must be easier for any political system
0:44:18 > 0:44:22to deal with physical activity as the possible cause,
0:44:22 > 0:44:27because it's relatively apolitical and, in any case,
0:44:27 > 0:44:31you can put it to the individual that you're not doing enough physical activity.
0:44:32 > 0:44:38The food industry continued to market its oversized portions of sugary, fatty food.
0:44:38 > 0:44:44By 2005, Britons were spending £8 billion a year on unhealthy snacks,
0:44:44 > 0:44:48and more money on takeaways than on fresh fruit and vegetables.
0:44:50 > 0:44:55Research in the US and the UK was mounting
0:44:55 > 0:44:58that large portions encouraged overeating.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02Once the evidence really strengthened,
0:45:02 > 0:45:07I think we started to increase the intensity of discussions
0:45:07 > 0:45:13with the food industry about how we could really turn round this culture of super-sizing.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17The Food And Drink Federation drew up a manifesto
0:45:17 > 0:45:20to encourage its members to be more health conscious.
0:45:20 > 0:45:26It included pledges to reduce portion size and the levels of fat and sugar in foods.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30King-size bars of Snickers and Mars where phased out.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33Cadbury's, too, promised to make changes.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36I met with the chairman of one of the big companies,
0:45:36 > 0:45:42and we had a very intense discussion about food and obesity,
0:45:42 > 0:45:44and particularly around portion size.
0:45:44 > 0:45:50And by the end of the meeting, he absolutely promised me that they would take action on portion size,
0:45:50 > 0:45:54and they would rule out some of their extra large or king-size bars.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56And I came away feeling quite elated.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59But there was a catch.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04Hello, I'm here today to tell you about the new Wispa Duo bar.
0:46:04 > 0:46:10The Wispa Duo bar is a perfect combination of right and left bar in one pack.
0:46:10 > 0:46:16They did get rid of the king-size bars, but introduced a duo or a twin bar,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20which was marketed as being designed for sharing.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23Some people have found that they have a right bar where a left bar should be,
0:46:23 > 0:46:25and a left bar where there should be a right bar.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29I have to say, it isn't really as good as I had hoped for,
0:46:29 > 0:46:33because I think that once people do have an opened packet,
0:46:33 > 0:46:37I'm not sure how many of those do get saved for another day.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44See, that's definitely a left bar. You can tell straight off.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46You know? This is... That's a right.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54Sharing was the new marketing buzzword.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59Manufacturers insist the re-sealable bags were brought out in response
0:46:59 > 0:47:03to consumer demand for larger portions that could be shared with friends.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07But research clearly demonstrates that the larger bars and bags
0:47:07 > 0:47:10lead us to eat more.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12Does that look like a portion size to you?
0:47:12 > 0:47:15Yeah, that is what a single-serve
0:47:15 > 0:47:19bag of crisps should look like.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22It's about 100 to 150 calories.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26So we did a study where we actually use the typical sizes of bags
0:47:26 > 0:47:30that are available, starting with a little single-serve,
0:47:30 > 0:47:31up to family size.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33Had five different package sizes,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36starting with this size, the littlest,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39and pretty much everybody ate all of that.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43And we went up incrementally to big family-size bags.
0:47:43 > 0:47:49As the bags got bigger, people ate more and more and more.
0:47:49 > 0:47:5330, 40% more, 150 calories more, on average.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56Then we looked at dinner to see if people ate less at dinner
0:47:56 > 0:48:00to make up for the bigger intake of crisps,
0:48:00 > 0:48:03and they did not compensate at dinner, they just ate the same amount.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07Overeating at snack time is particularly dangerous.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10It's likely to add calories to your day.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13So snacking is a really key part of obesity, isn't it?
0:48:13 > 0:48:16It's just added calories.
0:48:16 > 0:48:22I think the bag gives you a certain cue that it's appropriate to eat that amount.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24And people just keep going.
0:48:24 > 0:48:29These kinds of foods are very moreish, too - once you get started, it's hard to stop.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35But the battleground on obesity is shifting.
0:48:35 > 0:48:41It's not just food manufacturers that continue to upsize the food in our shopping baskets.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48Three quarters of everything we buy comes from the big four supermarkets -
0:48:48 > 0:48:52Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02The battle for our loyalty is fiercely fought,
0:49:02 > 0:49:08and one of the weapons they use to get us through the door is multi-buy promotions.
0:49:08 > 0:49:14So I wanted to see what you could actually get on promotion at the supermarkets on these deals.
0:49:14 > 0:49:19And the first thing that strikes you is just the sheer amount of food that you can buy cheaply.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22All the supermarkets are on multi-buy deals.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24these are what the promotions are about.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27So you might go in just wanting one thing,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31but you end up just buying so much more because it appears to be great value.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44Everything is about super-sizing by any other name.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47I go in for one can of Coke, what do I end up with?
0:49:47 > 0:49:5316 cans of Coke, because one can, if you buy 16, will cost you 25p.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59I go in for one bag of crisps but what do I get?
0:50:00 > 0:50:0516 bags of crisps, because if I buy 16, I get one for 14p.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11This is what you find over and over again in all of the supermarkets.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16Crisps, chocolates and sweets, fizzy drinks on promotion.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20This is across the board at all the supermarkets,
0:50:20 > 0:50:25and what they are doing is using super-sizing as a weapon in the price war.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Giles Quick is a leading adviser to the food industry,
0:50:31 > 0:50:37and has monitored exactly how the supermarkets use multi-buy promotions.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41Originally it was about shifting volume.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45So you had access stock, and you want to get rid of it.
0:50:45 > 0:50:53Now it's used very much as a tactical weapon in the battle for brand supremacy,
0:50:53 > 0:50:55and indeed supermarket supremacy.
0:50:57 > 0:51:04Supermarkets soon discovered that when on promotion, snacks, sweets and crisps sold rapidly.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07In marketing terms, these products are called expandables.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12Some product are more expandable than others.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17What that means is, the capacity to consume them is greater.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21If we think about a category like fresh meat,
0:51:21 > 0:51:26if you buy more poultry, you'll probably buy less beef and lamb.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30Overall, fresh meat is not terribly expandable as a category.
0:51:30 > 0:51:35There are some categories that aren't associated with particular meals
0:51:35 > 0:51:37and particular rules, if you like.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40You can consume them any time, anywhere.
0:51:40 > 0:51:46And those sorts of products, often snack food items, tend to be more expandable.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48You can consume more of them.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51There are fewer rules and rituals around them.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54So if you have more in your home at one time,
0:51:54 > 0:51:56you tend to eat them faster.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01How many sales would a promotion like that add?
0:52:01 > 0:52:05It varies enormously, but the figures can be truly dramatic.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09Two, three, four, five, six-fold increase
0:52:09 > 0:52:13in the number of sales during the period of that promotion.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16And the promotion may often last only a couple of weeks.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21The supermarkets have promised to help tackle the obesity epidemic,
0:52:21 > 0:52:29yet at the same time they're offering calorie-rich foods on discount.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31Last year, the number of multi-buy promotions
0:52:31 > 0:52:36on crisps, sweets and chocolates rose by 138%.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41Could you tell me what you consider to be super-sizing?
0:52:41 > 0:52:44We will sell multi-packs of products, for example,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47in stores to offer people value when they want to buy...
0:52:47 > 0:52:50Do you consider that to be super sizing?
0:52:50 > 0:52:53No, I think that's offering people value for money by
0:52:53 > 0:52:57taking the opportunity to buy a number of products for a discount.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02My point is that all the signing up to voluntary obesity charters is lip service,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05that the reality, the hard reality in a recession for supermarkets,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07is they need people through the door,
0:53:07 > 0:53:11and they do that through products that are discounted
0:53:11 > 0:53:16and therefore, would you not consider that a little bit hypocritical?
0:53:16 > 0:53:18No, not at all, because actually, you know, we're offering people
0:53:18 > 0:53:22the chance to eat a very healthy diet, which could include confectionery,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26or could include crisps, with all the clear labelling, all the clear information
0:53:26 > 0:53:30to eat a perfectly healthy diet, and that's what we do.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36In the pursuit of profit, restaurants, retailers and manufacturers
0:53:36 > 0:53:40have helped to trap us in a spiral of upsizing
0:53:40 > 0:53:44that has us weighing in just behind our American cousins.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49Back in the US, the land where super-sizing began,
0:53:49 > 0:53:53one in three people are obese, and still they keep eating.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58- Hi.- Hi, how you doing?- Good, thanks. - What can I get for you?
0:53:58 > 0:54:00- A doughnut, please.- Doughnut? Sure. What would you like?
0:54:00 > 0:54:03We have a sugar-glazed and half-chocolate one,
0:54:03 > 0:54:04or just all-glazed one.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08- Those tend to be the most popular flavours.- They're the most popular?
0:54:08 > 0:54:10What about, you've got peanut...
0:54:10 > 0:54:14We got peanuts, we got coconut, we have crullers.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16- I'll go for the big one. - The big one? All right.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20Did you want the glaze, or the half-chocolate, half-glaze?
0:54:20 > 0:54:22- Half-and-half, please. - Half-and-half? Sure, you got it.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26- Would anyone actually order that just for themselves? - People have done that before.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29If they want to challenge themselves,
0:54:29 > 0:54:31I've seen it done before.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34But that's probably not in their best health interests.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38But that's OK, I'm not a doctor. I'm a doughnut salesman.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41- How much do I owe you?- 6.90. - There you go. Thanks very much.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44- Have a nice day. Thank you. - Take care. Bye-bye.- See you soon.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53With America's annual medical bill for obesity
0:54:53 > 0:54:56reaching almost 150 billion, there's growing pressure
0:54:56 > 0:55:00for the food industry to shoulder some of the responsibility.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06It's a sign of the severity of the problem that a nation
0:55:06 > 0:55:10that prides itself on its free-market policies
0:55:10 > 0:55:12is willing to consider taxation as a remedy.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25Professor Stefani did all these tests with rats, you know...
0:55:25 > 0:55:32'Yale University's Professor Kelly Brownell is a world-renowned expert in nutrition and appetite.'
0:55:33 > 0:55:38Every business tries to maximise how desirable their products are
0:55:38 > 0:55:41and they change the qualities of those products
0:55:41 > 0:55:44to make people buy and consume as much as they can.
0:55:44 > 0:55:50But at some point there has to be a responsibility clock that began ticking for the industry,
0:55:50 > 0:55:54because it's been many years now that we've known that these foods
0:55:54 > 0:55:58high in sugar, fat and salt are creating multiple health problems,
0:55:58 > 0:56:00that if you intentionally manipulate these things
0:56:00 > 0:56:04you'll maximise the desirability of them and therefore consumption.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08And I do think it's time for industry to be held responsible for these.
0:56:10 > 0:56:16In 2009, Professor Brownell led demands for a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19Sales of these drinks are falling, but health campaigners argue
0:56:19 > 0:56:24that continued over-consumption of soft drinks leads to obesity.
0:56:25 > 0:56:31The economic estimates are quite clear that this would decrease consumption of those beverages.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35It would generate a lot of money and if that money were then used
0:56:35 > 0:56:38for anti-obesity programs, you could have a very positive impact.
0:56:40 > 0:56:45But soft drink manufacturers fought back, spending almost 40 million
0:56:45 > 0:56:49on lobbying politicians to vote against the introduction of a soda tax.
0:56:51 > 0:56:56My feeling is that we'll be replaying the tobacco industry experience,
0:56:56 > 0:56:58where the industry wins the first few skirmishes,
0:56:58 > 0:57:01and then attacks will pass somewhere.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03I expect that within the next year or two,
0:57:03 > 0:57:06and then there will be a lot of other places that will follow suit very quickly.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09And my belief is that the industry knows this will occur,
0:57:09 > 0:57:12and is just trying to fight it off as long as they can.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18That battle has been partly won in Denmark and France
0:57:18 > 0:57:22where taxes have been imposed on some unhealthy foods and drinks.
0:57:22 > 0:57:27But in Britain, sales of super-sized portions of sugary, fatty foods are still on the rise.
0:57:33 > 0:57:38What started out with a bucket full of popcorn, ended with an obesity epidemic.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43History shows us that a handful of men
0:57:43 > 0:57:48gave us an insatiable appetite for unhealthy food,
0:57:48 > 0:57:51ever bigger, sweeter, and more available.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53But one in four of us is now obese...
0:57:55 > 0:57:58..And that figure is set to rise unless the food industry
0:57:58 > 0:58:01and the nation learns to curb its appetite.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05Next week I'll be revealing how the food industry sold us fattening food
0:58:05 > 0:58:09while all the time claiming it was healthy.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13If you live on organic chocolate, organic ice cream and organic oven chips,
0:58:13 > 0:58:14you will get fat.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16This is something I call the health halo.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20It's the idea that when a food is marketed as being healthy, people think that it has less calories.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24And as a result, they think they can eat more of it without getting fat.
0:58:45 > 0:58:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd