UK to limit junk food ads to combat child obesity
Print Edition
The British government said yesterday it will bring in an evening deadline for junk food ads in a move to tackle the nation鈥檚 obesity problem.
The state-funded National Health Service estimates that some 10 percent of four- and five-year-olds are obese, a figure that climbs to 20.2 percent for those aged 10 and 11, or one in five.
It adds that one in four adults are obese, with cheap, high-calorie foods blamed in part.
From the end of next year, television and on-demand channels will not be allowed to advertise food high in fat, sugar and salt before 9pm.
Public Health Minister Jo Churchill said the new policy aimed to protect children from 鈥渦nhealthy advertising鈥 and 鈥渨ipe billions off the national calorie count.鈥
It cited an analysis of advertising from 2019 that found that almost 60 percent of ads on the main commercial TV channels between 6pm and 9pm were for foods high in fat, sugar and salt.
There will be some exceptions for foods that fall in these categories but are relatively unprocessed and healthy 鈥 such as marmite or honey 鈥 and for small and medium-sized food businesses.
The new rules do not ban all junk food promotion online, despite calls for this from campaigners including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
Junk food companies will be able to put out content that is not paid for, such as on their brands鈥 social media pages and blogs.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson鈥檚 government is seeking to 鈥渓evel up鈥 health inequalities in more disadvantaged regions of the country.
The likelihood that overweight people will suffer worse outcomes from COVID-19 infection has focused attention on the problem.
Johnson himself has struggled with his weight, blaming it for contributing to his battle to shrug off COVID-19 last year, which saw him spend several days in intensive care.
He has since boasted of giving up 鈥渓ate-night cheese鈥 and been spotted running with a personal trainer in a park near his Downing Street office.
鈥淚 am fitter than a butcher鈥檚 dog, thanks basically to losing weight,鈥 he said in September last year.
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