Political food fight over junk food ads to kids

[Guest guest]

Consumer groups have launched a lobbying campaign aimed at restricting the

amount of junk food marketing targeted at kids. It’s called, “We’re not

Buying

It”<http://www.preventioninstitute.org/focus-areas/supporting-healthy-food-a-act\

ivity/supporting-healthy-food-and-activity-environments-advocacy.html>and

it’s intended to reduce the thousands of commercial messages children

see every year for foods that aren’t good for them.

“Our kids' health is really at stake here,” says t Sims with the

Prevention Institute, one of the consumer groups leading this political food

fight. “Each year they spend $2 billion marketing food to kids and the vast

majority of that is junk food.”

By now you’ve heard about just how big the childhood obesity problem has

become, thanks in large part to first lady Obama.

One in three kids in this country is now overweight or obese. Overweight

children face a greater risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and

asthma.

According to a recent federal report, the prime sources of calories for

American children these days are: cookies, cakes, pizza and sweetened

drinks. That same report says potato chips and French fries make up half of

all the vegetables kids eat.

In 2009, Congress directed top nutrition and marketing experts at the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration,

U.S. Department of Agriculture and Federal Trade Commission to develop

guidelines for

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ting

food to children 2 to 17 years old.

On Wednesday, Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s

Bureau of Consumer Protection, told Congress the working group plans to make

significant revisions to its draft proposal. Vladeck testified that the FTC

staff has now determined that except for certain in-school marketing

activities, it is not necessary to have the

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delines

include adolescents age 12 to 17.

This Interagency Working Group released its proposals for comment in April.

Now it would like Congress to accept them. They focus on two basic nutrition

principles for marketing food to children:

- Advertising and marketing should encourage children to choose foods

that make meaningful contributions to a healthful diet from food groups

including vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk

products, fish, extra lean meat and poultry, eggs, nuts or seeds and beans.

- The saturated fat, trans fat, added sugars, and sodium in foods

marketed to children should be limited to minimize the negative impact on

children’s health and weight.

These are voluntary recommendations and do not call for any government

regulation. Even so, food, beverage and media companies don’t like the draft

guidelines and they’ve been aggressively lobbying Congress to reject them.

read the rest

here<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44878241/ns/business-consumer_news/#.TpyO2Y5YXt\

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Note " Kids cereal " is all sugared cereals in Post coupon.

--

Ortiz, MS, RD

*The FRUGAL Dietitian*

<http://goog_1331050751>*Blog*<http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

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