Advertising for unhealthy foods boosts calorie intake in children

Measures against advertising for high-energy foods demanded

In most European countries, many children are too fat. In this country too, more and more children and adolescents are suffering from obesity or obesity. It is partly due to the promotion of high-energy foods. According to experts, the traffic light labeling can promote healthier consumption.

More and more overweight children

According to health experts, more and more obese people are living in Germany. Many children and adolescents are also affected. For example, the KiGGS study showed that one child in seven is too fat in Germany: over 15.4 percent of children and adolescents aged between three and 17 are overweight and around 5.9 percent are even obese. Obesity can cause illnesses such as hypertension or diabetes already in adolescence. According to experts, the problem must be tackled more rigorously. In particular, the promotion of high-energy food must be more restricted.

In Germany more and more obese children live. According to health experts, the problem must be tackled more rigorously. Above all, the advertising of high-energy food must be restricted more. (Image: Myst / fotolia.com)

Advertising influences the eating habits of children

Scientific research has shown that advertising has a massive impact on children's eating habits and in many cases leads to obesity.

Above all, online advertising for unhealthy foods is critically eyed by professionals.

As reported by the German Diabetes Association in a recent communication, the German Noncommunicable Diseases Alliance (DANK) welcomes the Consumer Protection Ministers Conference's call for action against high-energy food advertising aimed at children.

According to the experts, a recent study from Australia shows that children eat more calories per day through a brief advertising campaign.

"Politics must finally protect children from this harmful influence," says DANK spokeswoman Barbara Bitzer.

Increased calorie intake

In the experiment of the Universities of Sydney, Liverpool and Wollongong, a total of 160 children from a holiday camp were randomly divided into four groups.

Group 1 watched a 10-minute commercial break for unhealthy products like breakfast cereal, a burger menu, or chocolate cream every day.

Group 2 also played a short computer game with similar advertising. Groups 3 and 4 received the same intervention, but saw advertising for other products (non-food).

Then it was measured how much the kids eat at breakfast and lunch, as well as in a snack break right after the movie / game.

It showed that the children, who saw advertising for unhealthy products in TV and computer games, ate on average an average of 46 kcal more than the children of the two control groups.

The effect was particularly pronounced in already overweight children - they even ate 95 kcal more.

Not even the advertised products were offered: The advertising apparently led the children generally to eat more.

If you offer the children exactly the advertised snack, the effect is even more dramatic, as a study from the USA with 60 preschool children showed. They consumed 30 percent more calories with snack advertising than without them.

Harmful snack advertising

As the Diabetes Society writes, the studies confirmed the findings of many other studies with children who also noted increased food consumption after advertising.

"Scientifically it has been proven how harmful snack advertising is for children", says Prof. Dr. med. med. Hans Hauner, CEO of the German Diabetes Foundation, "it is therefore not to explain that we still allow as a society."

The THANKS calls on the federal government to ban advertising for unhealthy products for children in general.

Mandatory traffic light system in Germany

Conversely, studies also show that food consumption can also be positively influenced by more comprehensible nutritional information.

The experts therefore welcome the announcement by the manufacturer Danone that from 2019 the five-level traffic light system "Nutri-Score" will also be introduced in Germany.

Several studies in online and real supermarkets have shown that this improves the nutritional quality of purchased shopping cart by six to nine percent - even for low-income individuals.

"The results show that the current labeling in Germany, in small print and on the back of the packaging, is insufficient," explains Bitzer, who is also managing director of the German Diabetes Association:

"Consumers have the right to more understandable information - then they make healthier buying decisions."

The DANK demands a mandatory traffic light system in Germany. This is also recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), as is a ban on child-focused marketing for fattening products. (Ad)