As U.K. Slumps, Fast Food Business Booms
The report highlights a risk from low-cost food high in salt, sugar and fat - and predicts the economic meltdown will make it worse, CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reports.
"It's cheap, it's plentiful, it's cheap, it's easy," one man said.
Another person commented: "So in your face, you can't avoid it."
In Britain's slumping economy, the fast-food business is booming.
McDonalds there just had its best year ever. KFC's profits rose 14 percent. And Dominoes earnings are up even more.
Following an American trend, fast-food giants have promised healthier options. But what's most popular is still a burger and fries or a bucket of chicken.
The British call it "cheep and cheerful."
"There is a sort of way it tends to relieve stress because you are going out and not spending much money but you'll be in company and you're enjoying the occasion," said Dr. David Haslam.
With one in four adults in England dangerously overweight - and nearly one in five children overweight - the country is catching up to America.
The government is campaigning against an epidemic of obesity.
Read more about the study.
Read about how the American diet is influencing urban China.
The country is even planning to lease or give away land to a list of would-be gardeners, on the theory it won't kill them to grow their own food.