Tips For Good Health

Junk food advertising to kids

 A study said: Kids in the United States are seeing fewer sugary, fatty foods advertised on TV, but unhealthy fare still accounts for most of the food ads they see -- and fast food commercials were more numerous in 2009 than six years before.

The U.S. food industry in 2006 began a voluntary program called the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) in response to calls from the Federal Trade Commission and the Institute of Medicine for greater self-regulation of food advertising to children.

The study, reported in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, assessed the impact of the program, which 17 companies -- including Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, General Mills and Kellogg -- have joined, pledging to improve the nutritional content of the ads they run during programs geared mainly for kids under 12.