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Bar marketing of harmful foods for children: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new guidelines calling for countries to prohibit the advertising of unhealthy food and drinks to children. WHO found that food marketing negatively impacts children's diets and contributes to health issues. The guidelines recommend mandatory policies to protect children from the marketing of high-fat, high-sugar, and high-salt products. WHO emphasized that previous recommendations made in 2010 have not been effective, and stronger regulations are needed to address the issue. Experts support the guidelines, stating that food marketing has a significant influence on children's eating habits and health.
Countries must prohibit the targeting of young children in advertising products like chips and aerated drinks, according to new guidelines by the World Health Organization, which found that food marketing around the world negatively affects children’s diets.
The global health body issued a new document on Monday, which called for mandatory policies to protect children of all ages from the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages that are high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and salt – also known as HFSS foods.
“The updated recommendation is based on the findings of reviews of recent evidence, including how exposure to and the power of food marketing affects children’s health, eating behaviours, and food-related attitudes and beliefs. In short, food marketing remains a threat to public health and continues to negatively affect children’s food choices, intended choices and their dietary intake. It also negatively influences the development of children’s norms about food consumption,” a statement released by WHO read.
HFSS products include chips, cookies, chocolates, confectionaries and deep-fried foods.
The global health body stressed that over a decade ago, in 2010, member states had endorsed WHO’s recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children but children continued to be exposed to powerful marketing of HFSS foods and non-alcoholic beverages, consumption of which is associated with negative health effects.
These policies will be most effective “if they are: are mandatory; protect children of all ages; use a government-led nutrient profile model to classify foods to be restricted from marketing; and are sufficiently comprehensive to minimise the risk of migration of marketing to other age groups, other spaces within the same medium or to other media, including digital spaces,” the statement added.
“Aggressive and pervasive marketing of foods and beverages high in fats, sugars and salt to children is responsible for unhealthy dietary choices,” said Dr Francesco Branca, director of the department of nutrition and food safety of WHO. “Calls to responsible marketing practices have not had a meaningful impact. Governments should establish strong and comprehensive regulations.”
Experts in India agreed that strict guidelines were necessary.
“Food Marketing is quite intense and repetitive and especially impacts children’s psyche and results in children developing more attraction to such HFSS foods and non-alcoholic beverages. The result is that they do not develop good nutritious dietary habits and it is a well-known fact that plaque formation of atherosclerosis in the coronaries may start in adolescence and early adulthood and this may lead to detrimental effects in the situation that there may be a rise in non-communicable diseases later,” said Dr Manish Aggarwal, head of interventional cardiology at PSRI Hospital.
Dr Meena J, senior consultant (paediatrics and neonatology), Aakash Healthcare, also said that the influence of food marketing on children’s health cannot be underestimated.
“More robust policies including the restrictions on the types of foods advertised during children’s programming, implementing clear and prominent warning labels on products high in sugar, salt, and fat, and promoting the marketing of nutritious foods instead, are needed,” she said.
