Unhappy Study Released On Happy Meals

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is taking the “happy” out of happy meals.

The Board gave initial approval Tuesday to a ban on happy meals within city limits.

If it passes a second vote, San Francisco would be the first city in the country to enforce such a ban.

A new study out of Yale University says just a small percentage of happy meals are actually healthy.

Young children are bombarded by television commercials promoting happy meals, and according to the study, toddlers saw at least three fast food commercials every day last year.

Preteens and teens watched around four or five per day.

McDonalds in La Quinta at Highway 111 and Adams is a popular dining spot.

Jerryilyn Philips brought her daughter there for dinner. But stayed away from ordering a happy meal, “Because its greasy, fattening, high carb — bad for kids,” she said.

Cary Freeman feels the same way. But her son is sick and thought that buying a happy meal would cheer him up.

“He likes the toy,” said Freeman. “But he really likes the chicken nuggets.”

Yale researchers examined more than 3,000 possible combinations of children’s combo meals at 8 different fast food restaurants.

The study found that only 15 met nutritional criteria for older children and only 12 met nutrition criteria for pre-schoolers.

“It’s possible to get a healthy meal at a fast food restaurant but its very difficult,” said Marlene Schwartz, with Yale University. “You have to go in. You have to know exactly what you’re looking for and you have to take the initiative to ask for it.”

ABC News went undercover and ordered kids meals at 250 McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s fast food restaurants.

All three chains offer healthy substitutes like milk instead of soda.

But those options were rarely mentioned by employees.

Healthy sides were only offered 6 to 8 percent of the time

“He does have the apple slices in here though. We go with the apple slices versus the french fries,” said Freeman. “So, we do have a little healthy twist on it.”

Still, parents say the responsibility of ordering healthy lies with them.

Phillips says San Francisco is crossing the line by imposing a ban on happy meals.

“You can’t just ban things cause that just causes more problems, right? So, either you chose to eat healthy or you don’t,” said Phillips.

A similar ban was adopted in Santa Clara County earlier this year. But it only applies to a few restaurants in unincorporated areas.

The San Francisco ban affects more restaurant chains.