NEW YORK (AP) – New York City’s mayor is proposing a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in the hopes of combating obesity — an expansion of efforts to encourage healthy behavior that have led to shouts that America’s largest city is becoming a “nanny state.”

The proposed first-in-the-nation ban, expected to be formally announced Thursday, would impose a 16-ounce (.4-kilogram) limit on the size of sweetened drinks sold in the city’s restaurants, shops and movie theaters.

Under three-term Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York has campaigned aggressively against obesity, including outlawing trans fats in restaurant food and forcing chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus.

Bloomberg said Wednesday that he “thinks it’s what the public wants the mayor to do.”

Critics quickly said city officials are overstepping into matters that should be left in the hands of individual consumers.

Source: Associated Press