Children’s health choices at risk
Experts warn parents about the harmful effects marketing ultra-processed foods, beverages have on children’s health
EXPERTS ARE cautioning parents to be on the lookout for the harmful effects that the marketing of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and beverages can have on children’s health.
These kinds of messages sent out by the food and beverages industry – whether carried out directly through print, radio, television, and social media advertisements, or indirectly through brand sponsorship (the sponsoring of a product, individual, or event in exchange for promotion of the brand), or billboards depicting unhealthy food choices nearby, for example, a school – are causing children to develop a hankering for foods that have little to no nutritional value.
In other words, they are, essentially, directing kids to purchase foods high in sugar, salt, and fat.
Vonetta Nurse, nutrition officer at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Jamaica, while speaking at the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network’s Editors’ Forum on healthy food policies on Tuesday, expressed concern about child-directed marketing (CDM), which uses language, images, colours, and other enticing methodologies to influence children to make particular choices.
“Indirect marketing is what is most common in schools, and examples can include sponsorship of community and school events, health campaigns, sponsoring schools’ sports teams, school meals; product placement and branding (books, bags, toys); promotion using celebrities, entertainers, brand mascots [or] cartoon characters; ... music, games, etcetera,” she outlined.
Nurse brought attention to some of the key challenges faced such as limited resources, where many schools rely on the support received from these brands; the perceptions of corporate social responsibility versus marketing; the capacity to regulate the school environment; data gaps such as limited data on the scale of marketing and limited qualitative and child-centred research; and public awareness and support from policymakers.
Foods that have undergone industrial modification using artificial flavours, colours, preservatives, additives, or sweeteners are considered UPFs. Carbonated soft drinks, packaged sweet or savoury snacks like chips, cookies, candies, and chocolate; frozen dinners like pizza and chicken nuggets; baked goods, including bread, pastries, and cakes; and processed cheese products are a few common examples.
UNDERMINING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
According to Nurse, the effects of CDM include an association with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), obesity, and overweight, as well as detrimental effects on children’s long-term physical and mental health and educational attainment. Altogether, it undermines the rights of children, adolescents, and young people.
“In school, the promotion is particularly of concern because this is where there’s a captive audience. This is where there’s a large proportion of children that can be influenced at one time, with children spending a lot of their time in schools [where] the have eating habits that can be established young that will last a lifetime,” she said.
“Students and parents also trust that whatever is happening in schools is in the best interest of their children,” she added.
Additionally, this form of marketing influences children’s food preferences, purchase requests, consumption patterns, and attitude towards food, Nurse stated.
She went on to say that it was concerning because kids were unable to comprehend the objective of this kind of persuasive advertising. Furthermore, this strategy undermines parents who want to make healthier decisions for their family as children begin imposing “pester power”, “kid-fluence”, or “the nag factor” on their parents.
During the five-person discussion panel, Dr Suzzane Soares-Wynter, clinical nutritionist at the Caribbean Institute for Health Research, revealed that some people had the misconception that healthy foods had to be high-priced and come in colourful packaging, but what they did not know is that these foods typically contained high levels of preservatives, making the food unhealthy.
“We need to change our mindset about what we think is healthy or unhealthy ... and I think parents need to ensure that you guide your children [on what foods to select] and make it easy at home because you need to also be that role model for your children in becoming accustomed to eating those things (healthy food items),” she said.
March is celebrated as National Nutrition Month, and this year’s theme is “Beyond the Table.”
According to national data, one in three Jamaicans have hypertension and one in eight have diabetes. Also, research conducted in 2017 shows that over 30,000 children between 10 and 19 years were hypertensive.
OBESITY AN ISSUE
Further, the World Health Organisation’s Global Schoolbased Student Health survey revealed that in Jamaica, 20 per cent of boys and 26.4 per cent of girls between the ages of 13 and 17 years were overweight, and nine per cent of boys and nine and a half per cent of girls within the same age group were obese.
Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey figures show that one in three Jamaicans is hypertensive – 35.8 per cent women and 31.7 per cent.
It is estimated that the Jamaican economy will lose about $77 billion between 2017 and 2032 if there is continued failure to implement interventions for NCDs.
Jamaica is currently in the process of developing a National School Nutrition Policy through the Ministry of Education and Youth in collaboration the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
It is now at the Green Paper stage, with the next step to be a White Paper. Once approved by the Cabinet, the policy will be moved to implementation.
UNICEF believes in the creation of comprehensive public policies and programmes that regulate and protect children and adolescents from direct and indirect promotion and advertisement of unhealthy food and beverages.
Among their suggestions for the Government are the following: a multisectoral approach for inclusive policy decision-making; a restriction on the promotion of unhealthy foods and beverages in and around schools during regular school hours and on extended school days and at school functions and events; and public-awareness campaigns to educate consumers about their rights. Additionally, it ought to encourage the sector to engage in socially conscious marketing.