LONDON, April 22 (UPI) -- The McDonald's restaurant chain in Britain will join the United States by giving away pedometers with adult Happy Meals.
The new "Go Active!" adult meal-in-a-box debuted in the United States last week and is expected to appear in Britain by the end of the year.
The boxes contain salad, bottled water and a pedometer.
The devices, which measure how many steps a wearer has taken, are part of a campaign to shake off the image the company's menu is unhealthy with high fat and high sugar food, and to encourage customers to exercise more.
However, health advocates told The Telegraph the fat and sugar content of some McDonald's food is so high, a typical person would need to walk more than five and a half hours to burn off a single meal.
Spokeswoman Kath Dalmeny of the Food Commission watchdog group, praised the move as a good first step, but wondered about the rest of the campaign.
"It will be interesting to see whether or not these companies state on the packet how many steps you need to take to burn off the calories in what you've just eaten," she said.
