Tufts Now Despite consuming fewer sugar-sweetened beverages and more whole grains, most American children and adolescents still eat poorly – and sociodemographic disparities persist, according to an 18-year national study between 1999 and 2016 of U.S. children’s dietary trends. Read the story here You can find the study here (behind a paywall)
Next City Seattle is using its soda tax fund to provide emergency $800 grocery vouchers for 6,250 families. Sent in two installments, the first round of vouchers that can be put toward groceries have already been mailed. The second round will be mailed in April. Read the story here
Biomedical Central A recent study published in BMC Public Health aimed to determine whether Public Health England’s Sugar Smart campaign was effective in altering dietary behaviour, by assessing any impact of the campaign on sugar intake among children aged 5-11 years. Overall it was found that the health marketing campaign raised awareness of sugar in […]
Reuters (appeared in the Montreal Gazette) Parents may allow kids to eat too much sugary breakfast cereal because the suggested serving size is smaller than they realize, a new U.S. study suggests. The cereals with the most sugar also tend to have child-oriented marketing such as mascots, games, colours and fun shapes, researchers found in […]
Strategy Magazine Strategy magazine looks at Unilever’s decision to stop marketing and advertising foods and beverages to children under the age of 12 in traditional media, and below the age of 13 on social media. The article features an interview with Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition co-chair Manuel Arango. Read the article here
Food Navigator In an online survey, researchers from the Marketing for Food and Agricultural Products research group at the University of Gottingen asked consumers about various measures currently under discussion, such as advertising bans on children’s food with high sugar content, or sugar and soft drink taxes. Overall, 60% of those surveyed were in favour […]
The London Free Press In a paper published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health this month, researchers found that too many calorie-dense foods can lead to changes in the part of the brain that controls self-regulation, decision-making and reward-seeking. Adolescence, the researchers found, is a time of “dual susceptibility,” when teens are still developing […]
Sydney Morning Herald Sydney students view up to 2800 advertisements for junk food while travelling to and from school each year prompting Cancer Council NSW to call for a ban on such ads being displayed on government property. Research, published by the Sax Institute on Tuesday, examined the likely commutes of attendees at 21 Sydney […]
The Times-Colonist (Victoria, BC) Trevor Hancock discusses the health impacts of poverty and inequality, and commercial activities like marketing to kids that harm children. Both were included in A Future for the World’s Children?, the February 2020 report from the WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission. Read the article here
ABC News The inundation of junk food advertising is contributing to the rising rate of teen obesity — a public health crisis among a population that is “especially vulnerable” to the messaging, experts say. In 2016 alone, the food industry spent almost $14 billion on overall advertising to influence Americans’ food choices. The U.S. food […]
Vancouver Sun
The Globe & Mail