Start Date: March 2013

ID #: 70755

Principal Investigator: Lainie Rutkow, JD, PhD, MPH

Co-Principal Investigator: Jon S. Vernick, JD, MPH

Organization: Johns Hopkins University

Funding Round: Round 7

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The food industry often uses health claims to promote its products to consumers, including parents seeking nutritious options for their children. Parents and children in low-income and racial/ethnic minority households at greatest risk for childhood obesity are disproportionately exposed to these claims through advertising. Regulators can pursue deceptive and/or unfair health claims, but these actions require a better understanding of prior efforts in this area, including which types of claims have been targeted. Accordingly, the aims of this study are to: 1) conduct a comprehensive legal review of health claims on foods marketed to children that have been the subject of state, federal, or private litigation or governmental regulation, and 2) develop a legal toolkit for federal and state policy-makers and regulators interested in pursuing deceptive and/or unfair health claims on foods marketed to children, based on the findings from Aim 1.

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