RWJF Alerts - Food Marketing to Kids

From the RWJF Alerts

A study in the July issue of the British journal Obesity Reviews finds that 89 percent of the foods marketed to children are of poor nutritional quality, Reuters reports. Canadian researchers applied the Center for Science in the Public Interest's (CSPI) nutritional standards for healthy food to 367 products packaged for children—items that promoted fun and play, came in packages with cartoon images or were linked to children's television programs, films or other merchandise. The CSPI standards require that healthy foods contain no more than 35 percent added sugar by weight; derive no more than 35 percent of their calories from fat; and contain no more than 230 milligrams of sodium per serving for snack foods and 770 milligrams of sodium per serving for prepared meals. Of the products studied, 70 percent had higher-than-recommended levels of sugar, 23 percent had too much fat and 17 percent exceeded the sodium thresholds. But because researchers were unable to differentiate between added sugars and naturally occurring sugars such as those from milk and fruit, the number of products categorized as having too much sugar and too little nutritional quality may have been higher than it would have been using more sophisticated methodology. The researchers also studied the products’ nutritional assertions and found positive claims on the packaging of 62 percent of items not meeting the CSPI standards. The study's lead author, Charlene Elliott, notes that some promotions can mislead parents: "If a parent sees a product that makes specific nutritional claims, they may assume that the whole product is nutritious, and our study has shown that that is definitely not true in the vast majority of cases." The authors recommend that policy-makers focus on the packaging used for foods targeting children and make efforts to verify the nutritional statements made by products ( Reuters, 7/14/08; Obesity Reviews release, 7/15/08; Elliot, Obesity Reviews, July 2008 [registration required]). Editor’s note: The Center for Science in the Public Interest is a past recipient of several grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.