WUNRN
Overweight
and Obesity Epidemic in America – Part II: Obesity Prevalence and Trends Among
Children and Adolescents
USA Research - Overweight & Obesity in GIRLS - Specifically, for the selected years from 1988-1994 to 2007-2008 obesity prevalence among girls across racial/ethnic groups increased in the following way:
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USA - CHILDHOOD OBESITY - AN
AMERICAN EPIDEMIC - GIRLS
Today about
1 in 3 children and youth (ages 2-19) in the United States are already
overweight or obese. Overweight kids are more likely to become overweight
adults. Some experts believe that if obesity among kids continues to increase
at this rate, our current generation could become the FIRST in American history
to live shorter lives than their parents.
*Obese
& Overweight Children are at Risk for Serious Health Problems
*Access
to Healthy Food and Physical Activity is Disappearing
*Different
Economic, Racial, and Ethnic Groups are More at Risk
Poor health care: More than 1.6
million children were unable to get needed medical care because the family
could not afford it. Medical care for an additional 3 million children was
delayed because of worry about the cost.
Limited access:
In part because they lack access to healthy food and sports facilities,
children from lower incomes are more likely to be overweight or obese.
Skyrocketing diabetes
risk: African American and Hispanic children are developing
type 2 diabetes at much higher rates than their Caucasian peers. Almost half
are at risk of developing diabetes.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/business/29label.html?_r=1&ref=health
US
SEEKS NEW LIMITS ON FOOD ADS FOR CHILDREN
FOR
HEALTH, AGAINST CHILDHOOD OBESITY
David
Paul Morris/Getty Images
The
US federal government proposed sweeping
new guidelines on Thursday that could push the food industry to
overhaul how it advertises cereal, soda pop, snacks, restaurant meals and other
foods to children.
Citing
an epidemic of childhood obesity, regulators are taking aim at a range
of tactics used to market foods high in sugar, fat or salt to children,
including the use of cartoon characters like Toucan Sam, the brightly colored
Froot Loops pitchman, who appears in television commercials and online games as
well as on cereal boxes.
Regulators
are asking food makers and restaurant companies to make a choice: make your
products healthier or stop advertising them to youngsters.
“Toucan
Sam can sell healthy food or junk food,” said Dale Kunkel, a communications
professor at the University
of Arizona who studies the marketing of children’s food. “This
forces Toucan Sam to be associated with healthier products.”
The
guidelines, released by the Federal Trade Commission, encompass a broad range
of marketing efforts, including television and print ads, Web sites, online
games that act as camouflaged advertisements, social media, product placements
in movies, the use of movie characters in cross-promotions and fast-food
children’s meals. The inclusion of digital media, such as product-based games,
represents one of the government’s strongest efforts so far to address the
extension of children’s advertising into the online world, which children’s health advocates say is a growing
problem.
The
guidelines are meant to be voluntary, but companies are likely to face heavy
pressure to adopt them. Companies that choose to take part would have five to
10 years to bring their products and marketing into compliance.
“There’s
clearly a demand hidden behind the velvet glove of the voluntary language,”
said Dan Jaffe, an executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers, a trade
group that represents marketers like Kraft
Foods and Campbell
Soup.
By
explicitly tying advertising to childhood obesity, the government is suggesting
there is a darker side to cuddly figures like Cap’n Crunch, the Keebler elves,
Ronald McDonald and the movie and television characters used to promote food.
It also raises the question of whether they might ultimately share the fate of
Joe Camel, the cartoon figure used to promote Camel cigarettes that was phased out amid
allegations that it was meant to entice children to smoke.
“Our
proposal really covers all forms of marketing to kids, and the product
packaging and the images and themes on the cereal boxes have tremendous appeal
to kids,” said Michelle K. Rusk, a lawyer with the trade commission. “The goal
is to encourage children to eat more healthy foods because obesity is a huge
health crisis.”
The
F.T.C. said that in 2006, food companies spent nearly $2.3 billion to advertise
to children.
The
food industry immediately criticized the proposal, saying that it had already
taken significant steps to improve recipes and change the way it advertises to
children.
Kellogg,
the company that makes Froot Loops, said in a statement that it would review
the proposal and that it was committed to improving “the nutrition credentials” of its products. “We
have very specific criteria, based on a broad review of scientific reports,
that determine how and what products we market to children,” the company said.
The company has already reduced sugar and added whole grains in many cereals.
Scott
Faber, a vice president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a group that
represents food makers, said that ads for packaged foods on television shows
aimed at children 2 to 11 had dropped significantly since 2004, and that the
ads more often showed healthier types of foods. He said companies had also
changed many recipes to reduce salt, sugar and fat and add healthful
ingredients like whole grains. “The rate of reformulation is going to increase,
not as a result of the principles that were announced today but because
consumers are demanding changes in the marketplace,” Mr. Faber said.
Many
food companies participate in an industry-led effort, the Children’s Food and
Beverage Advertising Initiative, to restrict some marketing activities. But
each company that takes part is allowed to set its own nutritional criteria,
which critics say undermine the program’s effectiveness.
Regulators
said it was important for the entire industry to adhere to a uniform set of
standards.
The
guidelines were created at the request of Congress and written by the
commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Agriculture
Department and the Centers for Disease Control. Regulators said
they would take comments and consider changes before submitting a final report
to Congress.
The
guidelines call for foods that are advertised to children to meet two basic
requirements. They would have to include certain healthful ingredients, like
whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, or low-fat milk. And they could not
contain unhealthful amounts of sugar, saturated fat, trans fat
and salt.
The
sugar requirement would limit cereals to eight grams of added sugar a serving,
far less than many popular cereals have today. Froot Loops and Cap’n Crunch,
for example, contain 12 grams of sugar a serving.
The
salt restrictions are particularly stringent, and many packaged foods on the
shelves today would have a hard time meeting them. In an initial phase-in
period, the guidelines call for many foods to have no more than 210 milligrams
of sodium a serving, while main dishes and meals, including both restaurant
food and packaged food, could have no more than 450 milligrams. Today, a
15-ounce can of Chef Boyardee beef ravioli has two servings, with 750
milligrams of sodium per serving. The sodium restrictions would get tougher
over time.
The
federal agencies acknowledged that a “large percentage of food products
currently in the marketplace would not meet the principles.”
The
guidelines would apply to both young children and teenagers. The industry has
said it should have greater leeway for teenagers, and Ms. Rusk said the
agencies would consider those arguments.
Margo
Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an
advocacy group, predicted that the guidelines would force many companies to
accept great restrictions and improve recipes.
“With
all the concern about childhood obesity, I think there’s a lot of pressure on
companies to do the right thing and follow these standards,” she said.
Jeffrey
Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy, a group that
focuses on Internet marketing to children, said the F.T.C. proposal had broader
implications. “The youth obesity issue has placed all digital marketing in the
regulatory cross hairs,” Mr. Chester said.