• AFP, Wednesday, January 2, 2008 11:16 AM

As of the New Year, Britain has rolled out a ban on advertising junk food to kids under 16 in an effort to promote healthy eating and combat childhood obesity. The new curbs, which extend measures already in place for those under 10 years of age, will bar TV ads for food and beverages that have high levels of fat, salt and/or sugar.

According to data released in October, half of all Britons will be obese in 25 years if current trends hold. More, 86% of all men in that country will be overweight in 15 years and 70 percent of women in 20 years. But some activists say the new rules don't go far enough and are calling for more.

"We need urgent action to help people, especially children, avoid the less healthy, less happy and, ultimately, shorter life that obesity leads to," says Richard Watts of the Children's Food Campaign.

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