The researchers found that children's food promotion concentrates on the 'Big Four' products of pre-sugared breakfast cereals, soft drinks, confectionery and savoury snacks, supplemented by the spread of fast-food outlets. The study, which analysed about 30,000 pieces of research, was commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and is contained in a report, Does Food Promotion Influence Children? A Systematic Review of the Evidence, published last week.
The report said, 'The advertised diet contrasts sharply with that recommended by public health advisers.Themes of fun and fantasy or taste, rather than health and nutrition, are used to promote it to children.
Meanwhile, the recommended diet gets little promotional support.'
Professor Gerald Hastings, who led the research, said, 'Advertising to children does have an effect on their preferences, purchase behaviour and consumption, and these effects are apparent not just for different brands but also for different types of food.'
Independent watchdog the Food Commission described the FSA review as 'a call to action'. The Commission's policy officer, Kath Dalmeny, said, 'Children are already eating too much fat, sugar and salt, yet we allow them to be systematically targeted with advertising for unhealthy foods.
'The FSA's review provides the evidence of what parents have known all along - advertising encourages children to choose unhealthy foods and to pester their parents for them.'
Annie Seeley, nutritionist and co-ordinator of the Food Commission's Parents' Jury, added, 'Food companies are experts at selling junk food and soft drinks to children using advertising, packaging and free gifts, but the one thing that repeatedly gets left out is good nutrition. It's time that food producers and advertisers used their expertise to sell healthier foods to children.'
The Food Commission is among a coalition of 85 organisations, including three royal colleges, health charities, the National Union of Teachers and the National Federation of Women's Institutes, to call for legislation to protect children from the promotion of foods that contribute to an unhealthy diet. The coalition is being co-ordinated by Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming.
The Food and Drink Federation, which represents the UK food and drink manufacturing industry, described the issue as 'complex'. FDF deputy director general Martin Paterson said, 'The most recent survey, by Dr Brian Young, one of the authors of the last Government review of this issue, has already clearly demonstrated that, while food advertising plays a role in affecting consumers' choice of brands, it does not dictate overall eating habits of children. Parents are just too "clued up" for that.'
The FSA plans to draw on the review's conclusions to stimulate public debate on the issue.
