Junk food ads aimed at kids endangers their health

Dec 7 2005

The Institute of Medicine says that the majority of food and drink advertising to children promotes unhealthy choices and can lead to poor diets.

The experts are recommending that the government step in unless the industry acts to change food and beverage marketing.

The Institute of Medicine is an independent, nonprofit body that advises the government, and their report suggests the industry itself is contributing to less healthy diets, and to negative diet-related health outcomes and risks among children and youth.

According to the report, last year, the food and beverage industry spent around $11 billion in advertising, including $5 billion on television commercials, and this was in the main for products high in calories but with little nutritional value.

They state very rightly that children are a willing audience for the advertisements.

According to their data promotions led children ages 2 to 11 to ask for certain products, while children aged 4 and younger could not tell the difference between television advertisements and programming; while those 8 and younger did not understand that commercials are meant to persuade.

The report found that the impact on teenagers was less clear, because too little research has been done in that age range.

The team, comprised of almost 20 medical and media academics, came to its conclusions after a year spent reviewing 123 published studies and industry information, at a time when more Americans, of all ages, are getting fatter.

According to experts about 16 percent of U.S. children and teen-ages, more than 9 million, are obese, compared with five percent in the 1960s.

Apparently the number of young people with type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity, is also on the rise.

Democrat Senator Tom Harkin, who has pushed for the legislation requiring the $1 million study, says the report proves that the onslaught of junk food marketing is endangering the health of children.

Possibly of more concern is that companies are increasingly targeting children through the Internet, product placement, and other activities.

The group has called for a nationwide campaign to educate families about healthy foods and for expanded industry guidelines that monitor the Internet and other nontraditional advertising venues.

The Institute says that if industry efforts do not work, Congress should step in to force companies to promote healthier choices, and it wants U.S. health officials to monitor the problem and provide an update in two years.