ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: In Spain, one third of all children and two-thirds of adults suffer from excess weight, a condition that generates a direct excess medical cost of 2000 million Euros. Obesogenic food environments cause obesity by promoting the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed foods. Accordingly, we propose five priority policies capable of reversing the epidemic of obesity and related non-communicable diseases through the creation of healthy food environments. THE POWER (PODER IN SPANISH) OF FOOD POLICIES: Advertising (Publicidad): regulation of unhealthy food and drink advertisements carried by all media and targeted at children, and prohibition of sponsorships of congresses, conferences or sports events and endorsements by scientific associations or health professionals. Supply (Oferta): promotion of a 100% healthy supply of goods on sale in vending machines sited at educational, health and sports centres. Demand (Demanda): levying a tax of at least 20% on sugar-sweetened beverages, accompanied by subsidies or reduced taxes on healthy foods and availability of drinking water free of charge at all public venues and areas. Labelling (Etiquetado): effective application of the Nutri-Score through the use of incentives, regulation and public-tender mechanisms. Reformulation (Reformulación): revising and redrawing reformulation agreements with the industry, setting more ambitious goals and mandatory compliance. A FINAL THOUGHT: These five proposed interventions, all of which have been successfully applied in other countries, will serve to raise population awareness and have a positive impact on health and the economy, through reducing the health care costs of obesity and enhancing work productivity. These measures should form part of a wide-ranging transformation of the food system, with agri-food policies that foster the sustainable production of healthy foods.
Subject(s)
Noncommunicable Diseases/prevention & control , Nutrition Policy , Obesity/prevention & control , Advertising , Food/adverse effects , Food Labeling , Health Promotion/methods , Humans , Negotiating , Obesity/complications , Spain , Sugar-Sweetened Beverages/adverse effects , TaxesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To describe the use of nutrition and health claims in products directed at children via television in Spain and to analyse their nutrient profile. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of television food advertisements over 7 days in five Spanish television channels popular among children. The products were classified as core, non-core or miscellaneous, and as either healthy or less healthy, according to the United Kingdom Nutrient Profile Model. We registered all claims contained on the product (packaging and labelling) and its advertisement. We calculated the frequency distributions of health and nutrition claims. RESULTS: During the 420hours of broadcasting, 169 food products were identified, 28.5% in the dairy group and 60.9% in the non-core category. A total of 53.3% of products contained nutrition claims and 26.6% contained health claims; 62.2% of the products with claims were less healthy. Low-fat dairy products were the food category containing the highest percentage of health and nutrition claims. CONCLUSION: Over half of all food products marketed to children via television in Spain made some type of nutrition or health claim. Most of these products were less healthy, which could mislead Spanish consumers.
Subject(s)
Direct-to-Consumer Advertising , Food , Nutritive Value , Television , Child , Cross-Sectional Studies , Direct-to-Consumer Advertising/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Spain , Television/statistics & numerical data , United KingdomABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to analyze television advertisements from different TV channels which are part of the Chilean National Television Association. During one week in January and one week in February of 2010 the advertisements were screened. The analysis selected and classified food's advertising as healthy, moderately healthy and unhealthy based on food's critic nutritional components: total fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates and sodium using as reference a classification chart called "Traffic Light System" and created by the UK Food Standard Agency. Sixty thousand four hundred and twenty five (6.425) advertisements were registered and analyzed accounting for 56 hours and 36 minutes in total. One thousand forty five (1.045) advertisements were identified as food advertisements (16 percent) accounting for 7 hours and 42 minutes (14 percent) of the total. Nutritional labels of the products were studied in order to classify and select them as described above. From the total offood advertisements it was observed that 64 percent were related to unhealthy food; 27 percent to moderately healthy and 9 percent to healthy food; accounting for respectively 62 percent, 30 percent and 8 percent, respectively, of the total time reported on food advertisement. Food advertisements are mostly unhealthy, promoting food consumption with high levels of fat, sugar and sodium. The broadcasting of this type of advertisements by television promotes the population to follow unhealthy life styles which result in a deterioration of their health.
El objetivo de este estudio, fue describir la Publicidad Alimentaria emitida por los canales pertenecientes a la Asociación Nacional de Televisión. En una semana de enero y una de febrero del año 2010 se seleccionó y clasificó la publicidad alimentaria emitida como saludable, medianamente saludable y no saludable, en base al contenido de nutrientes críticos; grasa total, grasa saturada, hidratos de carbono simples y sodio. Se utilizó como criterio de referencia, la tabla de clasificación de la Agencia Nacional de Alimentos de Inglaterra, denominada "semáforo nutricional". Se registraron y analizaron 6425 anuncios correspondientes a 56 horas 36 minutos continuas de tiempo, de ellos, se identificaron 1045 anuncios alimentarios (16 por ciento), equivalente en tiempo a 7 horas 42 minutos (14 por ciento) del total. Se examinaron las etiquetas nutricionales de los productos para la selección y calificación en saludable, medianamente saludable y no saludable. Se observó, que del total de la publicidad alimentaria, el 64 por ciento correspondió a publicidad alimentaria no saludable; el 27 por ciento, a publicidad alimentaria medianamente saludable y, el 9 por ciento publicidad alimentaria saludable, con un tiempo de emisión de un 62 por ciento, 30 por ciento y 8 por ciento, respectivamente. La publicidad alimentaria emitida es principalmente no saludable, promueve el consumo de alimentos altos en grasa, azúcar y sodio. La televisión al emitir esta publicidad promueve e incentiva a la población a llevar estilos de vida no saludables, en desmedro de la salud de la población.