A new report is calling on the province to crack down on the marketing of junk food to young children.
The report from the Healthy Kids Panel calls on the province to ban companies from directly marketing “high-calorie, low-nutrient foods, beverages and snacks” to children under the age of 12.
The report also calls for a ban on in-store displays featuring sugar sweetened beverages, with the stated goal of eventually expanding the ban to cover all junk food.
“We need to give kids a healthy start, we need to make sure that we change the food environment and we need to create healthy communities and it is really that three-pronged approach in totality that will lead to a reduction in childhood obesity,” Kelly Murumet, co-chair of the Healthy Kids Panel, told CP24 Monday morning. “This is a real package of recommendations because there is no silver bullet for solving the issue of childhood obesity.
In total, the report makes 23 recommendations.
Other highlights include forcing restaurants and grocery stores to list the calories of each item on their menus and promoting pre-conception wellness check ups for woman and their partners.
"Most pregnancies in Ontario are planned. This creates an opportunity for would-be parents to work with their health care practitioners to give their children the best start in life," the report states. "The wellness visit should include a routine health assessment to detect any factors that might increase risk during pregnancy, emphasize the importance of being a healthy weight before and during pregnancy, offer assistance with smoking cessation (if required) and provide nutrition and weight counselling."
The report, which was released Monday morning, drew on the opinions of a number of experts from the health care and academic sectors as well as leaders of a number of non-profit organizations.
The province will strike a working group, chaired by Minister of Health Deb Matthews and Minister of Children and Youth Services Teresa Piruzza to consider the panel’s recommendations.
"These recommendations further strengthen our commitment to ensuring that children get the best possible start,” Piruzza said in a press release. “We know the importance of healthy eating and nutrition for children. This combined with other programs such as investments in pre-natal and post-partum supports, healthy child development programs, early learning and opportunities will ensure the success of our children and our province."
The report aims to reduce the child obesity rate by 20 per cent over the next five years,
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