Disney's highly-touted junk food ad ban was guided in large part by consultations with the CU Center for Human Nutrition at Anschutz, which calls the move a "game-changer" for kid health.

The University of Colorado center has one of the longest-running national studies of people who lose weight and keep it off, and director James Hill has been a key paid consultant to Disney on its health efforts.

"It's a game-changer," said Hill, who worked with Disney on 2007 nutrition guidelines for its theme park meals and branded grocery store foods. "In the long run it will help consumers change much more than anything the government can do. Disney speaks directly to the consumer."

Hill and independent groups believe the Disney move will spread, putting pressure on both media conglomerates and food producers to do better with nutrition.

"We hope this demonstrates to other media companies they can make similar moves," said Eileen Espejo, director of the media and health project at Children Now in California, an organization that has worked with Congress and the federal government on ad and food guidelines.

Popular, heavily-marketed foods mentioned in the ad ban include Lunchables, Capri Sun drinks and many cereals. Cap'N Crunch, for example, has 11.8 grams of sugar in a 27-gram serving; the Disney guidelines call for less than 10 grams, Hill said.

"It certainly puts them many steps ahead of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, who should now be feeling a lot of pressure," said Margo Wootan director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Disney won't run food ads for kids if they don't meet nutrition standards. The company will also further ratchet down salt and sugar in its theme park foods and branded groceries.

The company is also breaking ground by basing all of its food on total calorie intake for the meal and for the day, Hill said, helping families to shape a healthier meal habit.

Strict nutritionists will say Disney didn't go far enough, Hill acknowledged. The salt guidelines aim for 2,300 milligrams in a child's daily diet. The current actual intake is about 3,500 milligrams, Hill said.

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Disney junk food ad ban guided by CU nutrition center