Most food and drink advertising to children
promotes unhealthy choices and the government should step
in if the industry fails to improve the situation, an
experts' recent report said.
"There is strong evidence that television advertising
influences the diets of children" said Dr. Michael McGinnis,
a senior scholar at the Institute of Medicine, which conducted
the review.
Studies also suggest marketing can lead to higher rates
of body fat, though more evidence is need, said the institute,
an independent, nonprofit body that advises the government.
The group called for a nationwide campaign to educate
families about healthy foods, national standards for food
offered at schools, and expanded industry guidelines to
monitor the Internet and other nontraditional ad venues.
If industry efforts fail, Congress should force companies
to advertise healthier choices, it said. U.S. officials
should monitor progress and update lawmakers in two years.
"We think that the issues confronting the health and
well being of America's children, particularly with respect
to childhood obesity ... require an 'all hands on deck'
effort," McGinnis told reporters.
Food and beverage industry groups have rejected the idea
of government restrictions, saying consumers should make
their own choices.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association said many of its
members have already improved food labels and promoted
healthier lifestyles. But the industry-funded Center for
Consumer Freedom rejected the study's findings, saying
a lack of exercise, not food, was to blame for rising
obesity.
Last year, the food and beverage industry spent about
$11 billion in advertising, including $5 billion
on television commercials, mostly for high-calorie products
with little nutritional value.
Promotions led children ages 2 to 11 to ask for certain
products, and kids aged 4 and younger could not tell the
difference between television advertisements and programing,
the report said. Those 8 and younger did not understand
that commercials are meant to persuade.
The impact on teen-agers was less clear, because too
little research has been done, the report found.
Experts also found companies were increasingly targeting
children through the Internet, product placement and other
activities.
To reach its conclusions the team of media and health
experts reviewed 123 published studies and industry information
at a time when more Americans of all ages are getting
fatter.
About 9 million U.S. children and teen-agers, or about
16 percent, are obese compared with 5 percent in the 1960s.
The number of young people with type 2 diabetes, which
is linked to obesity, also is on the rise.
