Disney to ban junk food ads in obesity fight

The change from the children's entertainment company got a prominent backer Tuesday as First Lady Michelle Obama offered her praise for the move.

Denver Post: Disney Junk Food Ad Ban Guided By CU Nutrition Center
Disney's highly-touted junk food ad ban was guided in large part by consultations with the CU Center for Human Nutrition at Anschutz, which calls the move a "game-changer" for kid health. The University of Colorado center has one of the longest-running national studies of people who lose weight and keep it off, and director James Hill has been a key paid consultant to Disney on its health efforts (Booth, 6/5).

CBS: Disney To Cut Junk Food From Its Platform
Mickey Mouse and the Disney family want their fans to grow up to be healthy adults, and are stepping up their fight against childhood obesity. The Walt Disney Company announced on Tuesday that it will be enacting several new regulations in order to promote healthy eating habits. The company detailed the plan during a Washington news conference with Michelle Obama, who has focused on fighting childhood obesity during her tenure as First Lady (Castillo, 6/5).

Marketplace:  Disney Kicks Junk Food Out Of The Magic Kingdom
The Walt Disney Company made two big announcements this morning. It's banning junk food ads on cartoons and other kid shows. That starts in 2015. And in just a few months, it will launch the Mickey Check.  Yeah, that Mickey. The mouse symbol will be slapped on foods in the grocery aisle that Disney approves as nutritious: Only so much sugar and salt and fat.  Obesity expert Vicky Rideout says it could provide a single standard that helps parents sort through the health claims on packages (Warner, 6/5).

The Associated Press: Disney's New Diet For Kids: No More Junk Food Ads
There won't be any more candy, sugary cereal or fast food on TV with the morning cartoons. The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday became the first major media company to ban ads for junk food on its television channels, radio stations and websites, hoping to stop kids from eating badly by taking the temptation away. First Lady Michelle Obama called it a "game changer" that is sure to send a message to the rest of the children's entertainment industry (Choi and Hirsch, 6/5).

The Associated Press: First Lady Walks Fine Line On NYC Drink Proposal
First lady Michelle Obama says banning big servings of sugary drinks isn't anything she'd want to do at the federal level, but she offered some kind words Tuesday for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's effort to do just that. She later issued a statement backing away from taking a stand on New York's controversial proposed ban (Benac, 6/6).

In the meantime, new reports outline the economic impact of obesity and new nutritional guidelines for children --

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Leavitt Talks Obesity Prevention, But Not Politics
Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Shefali S. Kulkarni reports: "Just a few days after he was tapped to be a part of presidential-hopeful Mitt Romney's transition team, Michael Leavitt Tuesday took on a very different mission: obesity. Leavitt was one of four former cabinet officials presenting a report on the economic impact of the obesity epidemic at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington" (Kulkarni, 6/5). Check out what else is on the blog.

CQ HealthBeat: Obesity Report Recommends Nutritional Guidelines For Babies, Toddlers
Recommendations in a new report on obesity issued Tuesday reach all the way down to babies and toddlers, as policy makers increasingly seek ways to prevent childhood obesity before it begins. Two former Health and Human Services secretaries and two former Agriculture secretaries teamed up to back the report by the Bipartisan Policy Center that offers what its Democratic and Republican authors termed possible "real life" solutions to the very difficult problem of how to curb obesity in the United States. The 105-page report is titled "Lots to Lose" (Norman, 6/5).