Of the 407 food products approved for advertising on children's TV programs by the voluntary, industry-based Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), 214 - 53 percent - do not meet government nutritional guidelines, says a new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The study evaluated the foods using the "nutrients to limit" list (saturated fat, trans fat, sugar and sodium) from the nutrition recommendations of the Interagency Working Group (IWG). The IWG is a government-based group representing the Federal Trade Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the US Department of Agriculture. The IWG's "nutrients to encourage" list was not used due to a lack of available nutrient information.

Of the foods currently approved by the CFBAI, 23 percent exceeded the IWG-recommended limit for saturated fat, fewer than 1 percent exceeded the limit for trans fat, 32 percent exceeded the limit for sugar, and 15 percent exceeded the limit for sodium.

Many food and beverage products meet IWG recommendations but these are not the products most heavily marketed to children.

"If companies chose to advertise products from the CFBAI's list of approved food products that meet the IWG recommendations more often than products that do not, children's exposure to food and beverage advertising could improve substantially," the study researchers suggest.

The study did not evaluate the foods on the basis of recommended his is the first study that has evaluated food and beverage products that the CFBAI's has designated as appropriate for advertisement to children on television since implementation of the new CFBAI uniform nutrition criteria. This study used dietary recommendations that were drafted jointly by IWG member agencies as directed by Congress in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriation Act.