rooklyn BP wants to ban the Kool-Aid man and other junk food icons from ads on city property

New York Daily News

Brooklyn Borough president Eric Adams highlights the inconsistency with banning cigarette and alcohol ads on city property while allowing ads for foods that contribute to unhealthy diets that lead to chronic disease among young people and adults. Read more…

Sugary Beverage Consumption Linked to Increased Mortality in US Adults

Docwire News

These results suggest higher consumption of sugary beverages is associated with increased mortality. An important takeaway from the study is that consumption of 100% fruit juice should be reduced and not just sugar sweetened beverages.
Read the study here
parenting kids

Mum’s clever campaign to stop food packaging lies

News.com.au

A mum in Australia has started a petition to introduce plain-language packaging that, at a glance, tells you exactly what you’re buying, modelled on plain packaging for cigarettes which was introduced in Australia in 2012. Read full article here…

The ban on marketing junk food to kids might not happen after all

Today’s Parent

“Parents, we’re powerless against big food companies. But as a collective voice, we can stand together for the rights of our kids and speak up”.

“Bill S-228 has been raised on the Senate floor four times, but the final vote hasn’t happened because it’s been adjourned all four times by request of a senator. That’s because the food industry is putting pressure on senators to stop the bill from becoming law. Parents aren’t supposed to know about this, but thankfully, CBC News shared a confidential letter written by industry groups, asking senators to continue to “withhold your concurrence” on Bill S-228″. Read full OpEd here…

Retweet Today’s Parent with comment: #BillS228 has been raised on the #SenCA floor 4 times and adjourned at the behest of industry. Industry is orchestrating Senate to kill the bill. Thank you @Todaysparent and @CBCNews for shining light on this. The time has come. Pass Bill S-228. #cdnpoli

Eleventh-hour lobbying by industry could kill law banning food marketing to kids

CBC News

“It’s a cliff-hanging, nail-biting ending that nobody saw coming. What’s at stake is a law that would protect children from being targeted with advertising for foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt.

But the legislation (Bill S-228) has been caught in a late-stage drama in the halls of the Canadian Senate, where a powerful coalition of advertisers, food processors, and retailers is in the midst of an eleventh-hour lobby campaign”. Read full article here…

Retweet Heart & Stroke: Former Conservative Senator Nancy Greene Raine worked across party lines to develop Bill S-228. Almost 1,000 days later and it still hasn’t passed. Children will be the victims. @SenateCA, it’s time to call the vote! #cndpoli #Marketing2Kids

This is Your Brain on Ads: How Mass Marketing Affects Our Minds

WGBH

Radio piece on the shelf life of commercials. According to University of Arizona researcher Merrie Brucks, an ad we watched when we were five years old can influence our buying behaviour when we’re fifty!

The Ads That Kids Shouldn’t See

The University of Toronto Magazine

Professor Mary L’Abbé, who conducts research into the nutritional quality of packaged and restaurant food, talks to deputy editor Stacey Gibson about the disturbing consequences of marketing unhealthy fare to kids.
Excerpt: “We want more of the onus to be put on the system rather than the individual to find the healthiest food. A parent goes into a grocery store with two children in tow and, with limited time, tries to pick out the healthiest foods while being bombarded by advertisements. It’s a hard job, and we want to help minimize the struggle”.

How Senate can work across party lines to stop the marketing of junk food to children

The Province

A great article by Dr. Tom Warshawski (Chair, Childhood Obesity Foundation) and Yves Savoie (CEO, Heart and Stroke) highlighting the bipartisan journey of Bill S-228, Senate’s delay and what’s at stake. (originally published in the Hill Times on 16 April 2019).
Excerpt: “The Senate has the choice of either protecting the health of our children by passing Bill S-228 in a timely manner or protecting the interests of the industry food lobby by continuing to delay its passage… The bill is a perfect example of how a non-partisan Senate can use its plentiful resources to study a problem, propose solutions and then introduce strong legislation that supports the government’s mandate. This is the Senate at its best”. Read full OpEd here…

Simple way to inoculate teens against junk food advertising

Science Daily

Researchers find diets improve when tapping adolescents’ desire to rebel; teenage boys cut back junk food purchases by 31 percent. Read here…

Labeling added sugars content on packaged foods and beverages could lower heart disease/diabetes risk and cut healthcare costs

American Heart Association

A label showing added sugars content on all packaged foods and sugary drinks could have substantial health and cost-saving benefits in the United States over the next 20 years, according to a new study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. Read here…