WANGARATTA naturopath Chris Miliankos is backing a growing campaign to protect children from unhealthy food advertising.

He supports the call by newly elected Independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps, for the Federal Government to ban junk food advertising to children, a measure outlined under the National Obesity Strategy released in March this year.

Dr Scamps is introducing a private member's bill to stop unhealthy food advertising and sponsorship aimed at children.

The Independent's call to action has been backed by the Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC), which is a partnership between Cancer Council Victoria, VicHealth and the Global Obesity Centre at Deakin University.

The OPC wants TV, radio and cinemas to be free from unhealthy food marketing from 6am to 9:30pm.

It wants unhealthy food companies to be prevented from targeting children and to ensure that public spaces and events are free from unhealthy food marketing.

Children should also be protected from digital marketing of unhealthy food.

Mr Miliankos, from North East Naturopathic Group, said junk food ads are often high–profile and hard to miss.

"Children especially are very impressionable and the companies use these ads to get people hooked on their products," he said.

"The ads often feature popular cartoon characters or celebrities, making them very appealing to kids.

"Studies have shown that kids who are exposed to junk food ads are more likely to eat these foods and be overweight."

Mr Miliankos said the unhealthy or junk food, does not just include snacks like chips and candy, but also includes fast food items such as burgers and fries.

He warned that junk food is often high in salt, saturated fat, trans fat and sugar.

"I prefer promoting nutrient rich foods that are also delicious such as fruits, vegetables, dips, low sugar chocolate, bliss balls etc," he said.

Jane Martin, executive manager of the OPC, said urgent action is needed to improve children's diets and address childhood obesity.

"Our children deserve to go about their daily lives without being bombarded by ads for unhealthy food and sugary drinks which is the wallpaper that surrounds their lives," Ms Martin said.

"Kids should be free to enjoy their favourite prime time TV shows without seeing ads for cookies or attend their weekend footy or netball games without fast food sponsorships."

The OPC has launched a platform, Brands off our kids!, calling for governments to set higher standards to protect children from the processed food industry's unhealthy food marketing.

The Brands off our Kinds platform can be found at https://www.opc.org.au/brands–off–our–kids.