In efforts to tamp down on childhood obesity, the UK government has instituted a crackdown on junk-food ads shown online and on TV before 9pm. Some of the items on the list, however, are unusual ones, and although some praise the move, others are pushing back. The usual suspects make the list in the new legislation, including fast food, sugary drinks, and prepackaged meals that often boast a hefty amount of calories and not that much nutritional value, per the BBC and Independent. But popular staples like porridge, granola, other types of breakfast cereal, sweetened yogurt, protein bars, waffles, and pancakes—as well as baked goods like scones, crumpets, muffins, biscuits, and croissants—are also noted as "less healthy" offenders subject to the ban.
The "less healthy" designation is determined by a government scoring regimen that takes into account a product's sugar, fat, salt, and protein content. That means that unsweetened yogurt, as well as porridge that doesn't have added sugar, salt, or fat, won't fall under the umbrella of the ban, which will take effect in October of next year. Other exempt products include savory breads, regular loaves of bread, icing, cake decorations, and baby food. The UK government hopes the ad ban will prevent up to 20,000 cases of childhood obesity by eliminating billions of excess calories annually from kids' diets.
Data from the UK's National Health Service indicates that nearly 10% of children in the first year of primary school are obese, while almost a quarter have tooth decay before the age of 5 because of the sugar they consume. "Obesity robs our kids of the best possible start in life, sets them up for a lifetime of health problems, and costs the NHS billions," UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting says, per the Independent. "This is the first step ... [toward] meeting our government's ambition to give every child a healthy, happy start to life."
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Not everyone is on board with the ad ban. "The world's gone mad," the manager of a crumpet shop not far from Buckingham Palace tells the BBC. "If you categorize crumpets as a junk food, that will have a great impact on my business—basically what they're saying is: 'You shouldn't eat crumpets,' indirectly." A local mom adds that she, not the government, should be deciding what ads her kids see and what foods they eat. Yahoo News UK has compiled a more complete list of what's on the banned roster and what's exempt, here. (More junk food stories.)
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