US urges junk food makers to restrict ads to kids

U.S. regulators urged food companies on Tuesday to voluntarily limit their advertising of sugary snacks, soft drinks and other junk food to kids to help combat childhood obesity.

The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Health and Human Services recommended expanding current, self-imposed guidelines on advertising to children, and said the industry should consider setting nutritional standards for foods marketed to kids.

"Although the (current) guides are a good foundation for industry self-regulation, the agencies believe the guides should be expanded and their enforcement enhanced," the government report said.

Public health advocates are concerned about the growing incidence of childhood obesity, which can lead to heart disease and diabetes in young adults.

Since 1980, the report said, obesity rates have tripled among adolescents aged 13 to 17 and doubled among younger children. According to recent estimates, 16 percent of children aged 6 to 19 are obese, it said.

Consumer groups welcomed the recommendations.

"The gist of what it says is clear - that companies are not marketing food responsibly to kids. They need to make changes," said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"This is a good start," Wootan said.

Wootan and other public health advocates say part of the problem is heavy marketing of unhealthy foods such as sugary cereals, drinks and chips that are high in calories, sugar and trans fats, the harmful artificial fats found in many snacks.

The food industry trade group, Grocery Manufacturers Association, praised the report and said it would consider its recommendations.

"While many companies are already engaged in a variety of initiatives, we welcome the agencies' suggestions regarding other ways in which we might be able to have positive impact on the health of all consumers, especially children," association president Manly Molpus said in a statement.

In the report, the federal government recommended the expansion of a unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus called the Children's Advertising Review Unit.

The group oversees guidelines that require all advertising to children be "truthful, accurate and developmentally appropriate."

The government also said the unit should consider setting minimum nutritional standards. The unit's advisory board should be expanded to include more experts in nutrition, child health and developmental psychology, the report recommends.