Melbourne, May 09 : An obesity lobby group in Australia has called for a total ban on junk food advertising during children''s peak-hour television scheduling.

The call comes at a time when the Obesity Policy Coalition also released research finding 84 percent of consumers believe children should be protected from unhealthy food advertising.

The coalition''s strategy is the most comprehensive produced in Australia to limit big business bombarding children with junk-food advertising.

It proposes unhealthy food ads on TV be banned on weekdays from 6am to 9am and 4pm to 9pm, and weekends and school holidays from 6am to noon and 4pm to 9pm.

An OPC senior policy adviser, Jane Martin, said childhood obesity rates were of great concern.

"We have a runaway train, and we need to slow this juggernaut, we need to slow it down and turn it around," News. com. au quoted Martin as saying.

"Compared to previous generations, young people are likely to suffer a decline in life expectancy because of obesity.

"Children are very vulnerable and they can''t detect the difference between advertising and entertainment when they are very young, so it''s not really ethical to be targeting them in this way,' added Martin.

The group''s research found nearly 60 per cent of more than 1500 adults surveyed nominated TV advertising or toy giveaways as having the biggest impact on their children when asking for unhealthy food. (ANI)