Skip navigation

Medical Professional Gives Center Store the Red Light

Renowned pediatrician Dr. William Sears is delivering nutritional advice that's easy for kids to understand, but difficult for consumer packaged goods manufacturers to accept. The message: The perimeter of the supermarket contains so-called green-light, or food; the center of the store has red-light, or food. Sears' view, that's it's never too early to teach kids about nutrition, isn't unique.

CHICAGO — Renowned pediatrician Dr. William Sears is delivering nutritional advice that's easy for kids to understand, but difficult for consumer packaged goods manufacturers to accept.

The message: The perimeter of the supermarket contains so-called green-light, or “good,” food; the center of the store has red-light, or “bad,” food.

Sears' view, that's it's never too early to teach kids about nutrition, isn't unique.

For the first time, the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that pediatricians provide nutrition counseling to children at their five-year checkups, Sears said.

“We, as health care providers, are gradually changing consumers from red-light to green-light food shoppers,” he said in a presentation at the Food Marketing Institute Show, held here last week.

The effort is a response to rising childhood obesity rates and other medical conditions caused by poor nutrition. According to Sears, many kids who act out at home and school are misdiagnosed with attention deficit disorder when they really have what he calls NDD, or nutritional deficit disorder. If their diets changed, so could their behavior, he holds.

“Children are getting fatter, sadder and sicker,” said Sears, who provides medical advice in several parenting magazines and is the author of numerous books, including “The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood” and “Dr. Sears' L.E.A.N. Book.”

Supermarkets can turn the situation into an opportunity by reshaping children's and parents' views about food.

“Kids have lost their taste for real food,” said Sears. “They think it needs to be colored, shaped and sweetened.”

While some may not like Sears' message, they need to know about it, because it's becoming increasingly visible.

Sears has started delivering nutritional pamphlets to kids via medical professional offices, YMCAs and boys' and girls' clubs.

His effort is making children more aware of the foods that provide the best nutrition, he noted.

“Kids are now telling their parents, ‘Daddy, you can't eat that, it's a red-light food,’” said Sears.

Sears acknowledged that supermarkets need to provide food for all tastes, including red-light products. But supermarket signage and nutritional programs can help steer kids to better-for-you options.

“One of the things we're teaching children and parents is to look for ‘bad’ words on the label,” he said. They include hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup and any ingredient with a number in it, such as Red Dye #40.

After Sears' presentation, Tim Hammonds, president and chief executive officer of FMI, stressed that the Center Store is filled with better-for-you options, and he urged members of the audience never to give up on it.

“Our Center Store suppliers get it, and are working hard to make their products resonate with healthy shoppers,” he said.

Indeed, health and wellness was the dominant theme on the FMI show floor.

General Mills introduced its new Curves-brand cereals and granola bars. Curves Chewy Granola will sell in stores for the suggested retail price of $2.89 per box of six bars; Curves cereal will come in two varieties: Honey Crunch, available in a 16.25-ounce box, and Whole Grain Crunch, in an 11-ounce box; both boxes carry a suggested retail price of $3.49.

The granola bars will also be sold at 8,000 Curves fitness franchises for about $1.

John Haugen, General Mills' vice president of health and wellness, described the new line as a true partnership between General Mills and Curves.

“We worked very closely with Curves,” Haugen told SN. “We didn't just buy the name.”

Meanwhile, Kraft Foods launched new “Sensible Solution” options and portion-control choices, including Nabisco Lorna Doone 100-calorie packs and whole-grain Nabisco Garden Harvest Toasted Chips.

Likewise, Sunsweet Growers is positioning its prunes as more snack-friendly by offering new packaging that contains individually wrapped portions of the fruit. And Campbell Soup Co. has expanded its lower-sodium platform with 14 new and reformulated products, including Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request.

TAGS: Center Store