Ban fast food ads on TV: U.S. doctors  

by Frederik Joelving

Fast food ads on TV are making American youth fatter and should be banned in children's programming, an influential group of doctors said Monday.

"Congress and the Federal Trade Commission have to get tough with the food industry," said Dr. Victor

Strasburger, who wrote the new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a group of 65,000 physicians.

"It's time for the food industry to clean up its act and not advertise junk food to young children," Strasburger told Reuters Health. "Just by banning ads for fast food, one study says we could decrease obesity and overweight by 17 percent."

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one in six children and teenagers are obese -- up three-fold from a generation ago.

While experts agree there are several reasons for this development, they are increasingly focusing on the role of excess "screen time" -- both for its physical effects on kids and the advertising messages that TVs and computers are delivering to them.

Last April, four government agencies requested public comments on a set of voluntary principles for marketing food to children, with the Federal Trade Commission calling childhood obesity "the most serious health crisis facing today's youth."

But voluntary guidelines won't cut it, according to the AAP.

Nearly a third of American youngsters eat fast food on any given day, the AAP says, with the nation spending in excess of $110 billion every year on things like burgers and French fries -- "more than that spent on higher education, computers, or cars."

In 2009, the fast food industry spent $4.2 billion on ads in various media. And research shows they work. For instance, one study found kids watching cartoons downed 45 percent more snacks when they were exposed to food ads instead of ads for other products.

The National Restaurant Association did not return a request for comment in time for this story.

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(Image courtesy of pointnshoot)