As the junk-food world turns.

Our children and grandchildren are growing up in a junk-food world. To an extent that would have been unimaginable in the 1950s or earlier, kids are being encouraged to eat unhealthy foods.

TV commercials, Web sites, and ads (even in "educational" publications like National Geographic Kids) urge youngsters to eat candy, salty snacks, sugary cereals, and noncarbonated soft drinks (fruit drinks). Fast-food restaurants and vending machines are plopped down wherever kids and their parents are likely to be--shopping malls, sports arenas, and even schools.

To make matters worse, notes New York University professor Marion Nestle, some companies that market healthy foods to adults sell a parallel array of junk for kids. And kids' food packages are often festooned with beloved cartoon characters like SpongeBob.

It should come as no surprise that only a tiny percentage of American children eat enough fruits and vegetables. Millions of kids are eating white bread instead of whole grain, drinking soda pop instead of water, and consuming far more calories, sodium, sugar, and saturated and trans fat than they should.

And it shows ... first in obesity, then in diabetes. (It will take longer for the heart attacks and strokes to show up.)

For decades, many nutritionists insisted that "there is no such thing as a good or bad food." Finally, that obsolete idea has been given an official burial by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine.

In April, the IOM issued guidelines for which foods are healthy enough to be sold in schools outside of the official breakfasts and lunches. The list includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, water, low-fat or non-fat milk, and modest portions of 100 percent fruit juice. It excludes candy bars, fried chips, soft drinks, and sports drinks. All foods on the list had to meet limits for bad fats, salt, and sugars.

Here's what needs to happen next:

* Congress should tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture to apply the IOM's guidelines to all school food--in cafeterias, vending machines, and school stores--for the entire school day.

* Every school district should adopt these or similar guidelines (and get their drinking fountains working!).

* TV stations should use the guidelines to decide which foods can be advertised on shows watched by kids under 12.

* The food industry should use cartoon characters only on packages of foods that meet the guidelines.

Health officials and activists have been ratcheting up the pressure. For instance, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (publisher of Nutrition Action) and others have been negotiating with Kellogg and threatening to sue Viacom (owner of the Nickelodeon channel and characters like SpongeBob) to get them to stop marketing junk food to kids. And members of Congress are offering bipartisan legislation to stop junk-food marketing.

We can't expect packaged-food manufacturers to sell nothing but broccoli and cantaloupe. But it's still gratifying when Kraft stops marketing its foods to children under six and uses nutrition standards, albeit loose ones, when deciding which foods to sell to 6-to-11 year olds. And it's encouraging that General Mills is using more whole grains in its cereals.

To send a message urging Congress to improve school foods, go to takeaction.cspinet.org/campaign/junkfood. With your help, we can make changes that lead to healthier diets and, of course, healthier kids.

Michael F. lacobson, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Center for Science in the Public Interest