LIFE> Odds and Ends
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LIFE> Odds and Ends
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Researchers urge crackdown on junk food TV ads
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-11 13:37
AMSTERDAM - Junk food ads account for two-thirds of televised advertisements for food that are shown when children are likely to be watching, researchers into obesity said Friday, based on a study of 11 countries. Germany and the United States led the way at 90 percent, with Britain and Australia the lowest at about 50 percent, the researchers said, urging governments to limit such marketing in order to combat obesity. "Internationally, children are exposed to high volumes of unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television," Bridget Kelly, a nutrition researcher at the Cancer Council NSW in Australia, and colleagues told the European Congress on Obesity in Amsterdam. "Limiting this food marketing is an important preventative strategy for childhood obesity." About 177 million children and teenagers under 18 years old worldwide are clinically overweight or obese. The figures include 22 million overweight children under five years old, according to the International Obesity Task Force. Obesity raises the risk of conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and the growing epidemic is piling pressure on many cash-strapped national health systems. |
