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Could New York’s ‘Healthy Happy Meals’ bill start a global trend?

Comprehensive analysis adds to mounting evidence for reducing kids' exposure to junk food ads

With an eye to improving fast food meals marketed to children from a nutritional standpoint, New York City Council member Benjamin J. Kallos has proposed a bill -- that could become law -- whose impact could be significant, according to researchers who conducted a new study on the potential outcome.

The proposed bill would require that meals aiming to please kids with toys and cartoon characters must include a serving of fruit, vegetables or whole grain.

Furthermore, the meals would be limited to 500 calories or less with fewer than 35 percent of calories from fat and less than 10 percent from saturated fat, less than 10 percent from added sugars and less than 600 milligrams of sodium.

Members of City Council in New York City are currently considering the bill, which is similar to a new law recently passed in California.

To assess the potential public health impact of the bill, the research team worked with receipts they collected in 2013 and 2014 from 358 adults, which represented purchases for 422 children at fast food chains Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's -- all three of which market kids' meals -- in New York City and New Jersey.

On average, adults purchased 600 calories per child, and 36 percent of the calories came from fat, according to the study, which was published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.

One third of the children selected kids' meals and 98 percent of kids' meals did not meet the nutritional standards the bill proposes, according to the study, conducted at New York University (NYU).

Should kids' meals be adjusted to meet the proposed nutritional criteria and if children continue to order them at the same rate, they would consume nine percent less calories - for a total of 54 fewer calories - a 10 percent reduction in sodium and a 10 percent reduction in the percentage of calories coming from fat, say the researchers.

"While 54 calories at a given meal is a small reduction, small changes that affect a wide number of people can make a large impact," says lead author Brian Elbel, PhD, associate professor in the Departments of Population Health at NYU Langone and at NYU Wagner. "Passing the bill could be a step in the right direction, though no single policy can singlehandedly eliminate childhood obesity."

"The policy's effectiveness will depend on whether the food industry attempts to neutralize it through marketing or other strategies," says Marie Bragg, PhD, co-author and assistant professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone and at the NYU College of Global Public Health. "For example, the industry could remove children's meals altogether, forcing children to order the larger portions from the adult menu."

Dr. Bragg noted that in Chile, it's against the law to market kids' meals that include toy gifts, a law she applauds.