International News: Australian Medical Association wants tax on sugary drinks and ban on junk food ads

The Guardian

The Australian Medical Association has called for a tax on sugary drinks to tackle obesity and for water to be the “default beverage option” with meals. In a position paper, released on Sunday, the AMA backed a number of measures to decrease obesity including banning junk food ads targeted at children.

“Advertising and marketing unhealthy food and drink to children should be prohibited altogether, and the loophole that allows children to be exposed to junk food and alcohol advertising during coverage of sporting events must be closed,” the president of the AMA, Michael Gannon, said in a statement on Sunday.

Read here…

Act banning food advertising to children ‘extremely important,’ says prof

CBC News

Professor Jennifer Tayor at UPEI says a Senate bill looking to ban food and beverage marketing directed at children may be an essential piece of legislation in reducing childhood obesity and disease. Read here…
Suggested Tweets:
‘We know that children have changed the way they eat, just getting them to move is not enough.” UPEI nutrition professor says Bill S-228 is “extremely important” #Marketing2Kids
“Jennifer Taylor, a food and nutrition professor at UPEI, said the bill is “extremely important” in banning junk food ads and combating chronic disease and childhood obesity.”#Marketing2Kids

Legislation barring food marketing for kids likely to pass in new year

National Post Eyolfson, a medical doctor from Winnipeg, said he is “quite confident” the legislation will pass in 2018, noting it will help ensure foods high in fat, salt and sugar can’t be marketed to children — a vulnerable demographic. “We know that advertising works in all age groups and that when you establish behaviour […]

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Trevor Hancock: Hoping for progress on health-related issues

Times Columnist

“Well, world peace, of course. And to be rid of The Donald. But while with any luck the latter is possible, and the former is devoutly to be wished for, I would settle for some healthy actions closer to home. Here are a few of the major population and public health issues where I hope we might see some progress in 2018.

… On the topic of making the next generation less healthy, a 2014 Statistics Canada report noted: “Obesity has become one of the world’s greatest health concerns and threatens to undo gains made in life expectancy during the 20th century”…. [T]here is a proposal for new regulations for front-of-pack warning labels for packaged foods high in salt, saturated fat and sugar that would be much easier for consumers to understand. Third, there is a strong push for Canada to prohibit the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children. You can help by supporting the Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition and writing to your MP. Go to stopmarketingtokids.ca for more information”. 

Read full OpED here…  

 

John Ivison: New private member’s bill could mean end of the Happy Meal in Canada

National Post

“It’s rare that a Liberal government adopts a private member’s bill introduced by a Conservative senator, but Nancy Greene Raine’s Child Health Protection legislation was given second reading in the House of Commons Tuesday and looks set to usher in a nationwide ban on food and drink marketing aimed at children…” Read full article…

Canada needs sugary drink tax, study led by U of T researchers urges

U of T News

“Most of the evidence indicates that sugary drinks are the biggest contributors to sugar consumption and play an important role in weight gain,” she says. “You don’t get as full when you’re drinking your calories and it’s easy to consume a lot of sugar in a short time.”

The federal government imposes no restrictions on marketing junk food to children, L’Abbé says, although they have announced impending regulations as part of the Healthy Eating Strategy.

“We know that marketing to kids changes what they want to eat and what they’re asking their parents to buy. And we know that it is the unhealthy foods that are the most heavily marketed to children,” she says.

Read article here… 

Junk food ads are targeting your kids—here’s how to stop it

Today’s Parent

“The food industry puts billions of dollars into marketing because they know it works,” says Manuel Arango, director of health policy and advocacy for Heart & Stroke. Marketing executives strategize with researchers and psychologists to collect in-depth knowledge on how to entice your kids to buy or eat more of a product.

We’ll know more about Health Canada’s regulations next year and they’re expected to come into force in 2020, but if you want to make your kids less vulnerable to junk food marketing now, try teaching them to think critically about the ads they see. Read more…

A reality check on the debate over regulating food marketing to kids

Mcleans.ca

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff writes on industry myths around regulating food and beverage marketing to kids.

Please have a read and help shed light on the inaccurate claims by industry and opposing members.

Read full article here…

Montreal wants to phase out sugary drinks in city buildings

CBC News

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration is backing a plan to phase out sugary drinks in city buildings, such as at arenas and pools. Read more here…

Children’s self-regulation of eating provides no defense against television and online food marketing

Journal Appetite

Excerpt: “Exposure to unhealthy food marketing stimulates children’s food consumption. A child’s responsiveness is influenced by individual factors, resulting in an increased vulnerability to advertising effects among some children. Whether these differential responses may be altered by different parental feeding behaviours is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between parental feeding practices and children’s food intake responses to food advertising exposure.” Read article here…