The UK Government is facing increased pressure to ban the advertising of junk foods to children.

The calls were spearheaded by the Food Commission after a Government report into ways of combating obesity in children was leaked to the media.

One of the report's suggestions was a voluntary ban on the advertising of junk food -- products that are saturated with fat, sugar and salt -- to children.

The Food Commission argues that a voluntary ban will be useless. It wants legislation to enforce advertising controls.

"The average child sees more than 5,000 advertisements for junk food every year. Parents and teachers cannot hope to compete with this barrage of bad messages and corrupting influence," the commission says.

The commission is also deeply sceptical of the food industry's committment to tackling the issue.

It accuses the industry of mounting a huge lobbying campaign to counter growing consumer pressure for such curbs.

The Government is divided on how to tackle the obesity issue.

Data sourced from: Mad.co.uk;additional content by WARC staff