New York City officials have taken their city to task on the obesity epidemic sweeping the United States and other industrialized countries. Trans fats were recently banned in all New York City restaurants and fast-food restaurants are now required to post calorie counts beside the price of every item on the menu. The latest battlefront for educating the city on healthy food choices is the city’s incredibly busy subway system.
The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has launched a series of public service announcements, posters that will be displayed in 1,000 subway cars circulating throughout the city. Each ad contains a different theme designed to reinforce the value of eating just 2,000 calories per day:
- “Some meals are too big.” One poster depicts a 1,170-calorie chicken burrito with all the toppings.
- Another features a box of fried chicken, mac and cheese on the side, a biscuit, and a soda, which add up to 1,210 calories. The ad reads, “If this is lunch, is there room for dinner?”
- “Choose less, weigh less” encourages smaller portions. A double cheeseburger, small fries, and a diet soda total 670 calories but that same double cheeseburger, with large fries and a regular soda, almost doubles the calorie count, to 1,250 calories for the meal.
- Calorie-count surprises are expected to improve food choices by showing that a roast beef sub sandwich, at 290 calories, is a much wiser choice than the tuna sub, with 530 calories.
- Another ad questions healthy snacks, showing a 470 calorie giant apple-raisin muffin.
A New York City health department press release states the average meal contains about 100 fewer calories when calorie count is presented at the time of purchase. This calorie reduction is expected to reduce the number of obese New Yorkers by 150,000 in the coming five-year period. Deaths from diabetes are expected to drop by 30,000 cases.