Vice
For Black and Latino communities that already have higher rates of diabetes and obesity, fast-food advertising adds another layer to health inequities that can become intergenerational. “For underserved populations like African Americans and Latino Americans, we see a lot more patients with family members who struggle with weight-related conditions,” says Dr. Veronica Johnson of Northwestern Medicine. Read more
Sustainweb. org
New research from the University of Bath reveals that companies mounted strong opposition behind the scenes to the London policy to restrict advertising for high fat, salt and sugar products across the transport network. Companies opposed the policy through official channels as well as trying to influence through more direct approaches such as informal calls. In one case, KFC invited a Childhood Obesity Taskforce member on a ‘magical mystery tour’ of London eateries and a tour of Brixton. Read more
Brixton Buzz
As part of their campaign to end the link between junk food advertising and sport Bite Back has teamed up with the club to set an example to others of what can be done to promote child health instead. The deal was announced after a summer working hard to highlight the extent to which sport is being used to give junk food a starring role in children’s minds, from Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the Olympics to the cricket Hundred, where the players are dressed up as giant crisp packets. Read more
CNN
Study participants who ordered their groceries online spent less money on junk food compared to when they shopped in person, according to a study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. Lead study author Laura Zatz, a senior adviser at The Behavioural Insights Team, said “Online shopping allows shoppers to avoid abundant in-store marketing and enticing food stimuli, which encourages us to add items to our basket that we didn’t plan to purchase,” she said. Read more…
Medical Xpress
A new online tool brings together the best available data to describe Australia’s food environments, providing a clear picture of the ways that environment drives people, including children, to consume too many of the wrong types of foods. Australian children see more than twice as many ads for unhealthy food compared to healthy food on TV. And when kids are on their mobile devices, they are hit with as many as ten unhealthy foods and drink ads every hour. Read more
You can find the dashboard at https://foodenvironmentdashboard.com.au
Stuff NZ
In What Are We Feeding Our Kids?, Dr. Chris van Tulleken looks into the health effects – particularly for children – of the increasing consumption of ultra-processed food. It costs twice as much to get 100 calories from fresh fruit, vegetables and fish in the UK as it does to get them from readymade food. Tim Rycroft, the chief operating officer of the Food and Drink Federation, gives the standard line about needing to ensure people are empowered to make “good choices”. Van Tulleken pushes back about how much choice there is in an environment where everything – availability, price, marketing and so on – is designed to push the consumer one way. Read more
