Welcome  to  Public  Health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. Rates  of  childhood  obesity  have tripled  over  the  last  30  years, with  one  third  of  American  children currently  overweight  or  obese. Many  factors  contribute  to  this  problem, but  a  key  one  is  the  way  in  which industry  markets  junk  food  to  children. Nutrition  expert  Mary  Story, a  professor  at  the  University  of  Minnesota, says  that  the  US  food  and  Beverage  industry  spends $2,000,000,000  a  year  marketing  foods  to  kids. Most  of  this  is  for foods  and  beverages  that  are  high  in  calories, fats,  and  added  sugars. And  there's  very  few  ads  for  fruits, vegetables,  and  other  healthy  foods. The  Institute  of  Medicine  in 2006  released  a  report  on  food  marketing  to  children. And  they  concluded  that  marketing  practices are  out  of  balance  with a  healthful  diet  and  create an  environment  that  puts  our  children's  health  at  risk. Recently  story  briefed  members of  Congress  on  this  topic  and others  call  for  industry  to  make changes  and  also  for  the  creation  of  federal, state,  and  local  policies to  curb  these  marketing  practices. What  needs  to  happen  is  that  we  need  to reduce  unhealthy  food  marketing  to  children. We  need  to  protect  our  children  from unhealthy  food  marketing  and  help them  improve  their  overall  diets for  public  health  moment  on  Mark  Gabon.