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- Researchers say packaged meals marketed to youngsters include increased ranges of sugar and are decrease in important vitamins than different merchandise.
- They mentioned cereal and toaster pastries had essentially the most child-appealing advertising among the many merchandise they studied.
- Experts say extra schooling for fogeys in addition to authorities regulation on product advertising to youngsters are wanted.
Foods marketed at children with essentially the most child-appealing packaging are sometimes increased in sugar and decrease in very important vitamins than these with much less interesting packaging.
That’s in response to a Canadian study printed as we speak within the journal PLOS ONE.
Researchers checked out practically 6,000 particular person meals merchandise related to youngsters’s diets and reported that round 13% of them contained child-appealing advertising, with the ability of that advertising various from product to product.
In normal, nonetheless, although there was a weak correlation between advertising energy and normal nutrient ranges, the researchers mentioned the meals that had been evaluated to be essentially the most interesting to youngsters had been increased in sugar — with a mean of 14.7 grams versus 9 grams — in comparison with commonplace packaging.
“While this study found variability in nutritional quality and composition depending on the food category and the nutrient, results showed that in many cases, products with child-appealing packaging were higher in nutrients of concern – in particular, total sugars, free sugars, and sodium — than products with non-child-appealing packaging,” the researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa wrote in a press launch.
Of all of the meals studied, solely two classes had greater than 50% child-appealing advertising: cereal and toaster pastries. These had been among the many merchandise most aggressively marketed to children.
The research appeared particularly on the Canadian meals market, however consultants say it’s possible the identical processes and conclusions apply to the United States.
“It is impossible to know without collecting the data, but in my experience, heavily processed foods high in salt, sugar, and fat are relentlessly marketed to kids in the U.S.,” Dr. Natasha Agbai, a pediatrician based mostly in San Francisco, advised Medical News Today.
How does one decide what’s “child-appealing” and what isn’t?
This was a core problem the researchers tried to handle with a codified system based mostly on a dozen particular person classes.
“The current lack of standardization in terms of definitions and methodologies for evaluating child-appeal is concerning,” the researchers wrote.
“The specific marketing techniques that were displayed on product packages varied across food categories,” they mentioned. “However, core techniques that have traditionally been found to be used in child-appealing marketing, such as having a child-appealing visual design, appeals to fun or cool and the use of characters remained popular across the sample.”
Of course, youngsters aren’t often shopping for cereals or pastries for themselves, however what appeals to children typically influences their mother and father.
“The ‘nag factor’ or ‘pester power’ is a term used to describe the influence that children, especially toddlers and preschoolers, have on their parents’ purchasing decisions,” Agbai defined. “Marketers recognize that children can successfully negotiate purchases by constantly pestering or nagging their parents to buy a product they desire. The idea is that the more a child asks for a product, the more likely the parent is to give in and make the purchase.
“This phenomenon is a potent force in the retail industry, as children can sway their parents’ purchasing decisions, making them a valuable demographic to target for companies,” she added.
To assist curb the advertising of much less wholesome meals on to children, the researchers recommended that policymakers implement extra aggressive advertising restrictions to guard youngsters.
Dr.. Daniel Ganjian, FAAP, a pediatrician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in California, agreed, noting that medical doctors have a task to play as properly.
“Parenting and pediatric groups should come out with a best-practices policy for children’s marketing,” Ganjian advised Medical News Today. “Then parents should only buy from stores and organizations that follow this policy. Another way is to ask the government to regulate the marketing of unhealthy foods to kids.”
Parents have a task to play, too.
“For parents, it’s becoming aware of what is truly healthy and unhealthy for their kids,” Jesse Feder, RDN, a dietitian based mostly in Florida, advised Medical News Today.
“Learning what these foods can do to your kids can help parents understand the severity of the situation,” he added. “Teaching your kids why certain foods are bad and others are good and instilling healthy eating habits is important. Successful policies include the addition of nutrition information on menus in restaurants in the U.S., increasing healthy food availability in poor neighborhoods, reducing the amount of food swamps, and decreasing the sizes of drinks and items available in fast food chains, to name a few.”
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