Television advertising limits can reduce childhood obesity, study
concludes

Date:
October 13, 2020
Source:
PLOS
Summary:
Limiting the hours of television advertising for foods
and beverages high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) could make a
meaningful contribution to reducing childhood obesity, according
to a new study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Limiting the hours of television advertising for foods and beverages
high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) could make a meaningful contribution
to reducing childhood obesity, according to a new study published this
week in PLOS Medicine by Oliver Mytton of the University of Cambridge,
UK, and colleagues.


========================================================================== Childhood obesity is a global problem with few signs of progress. As
part of the UK government's plan to halve childhood obesity by 2030, it
is considering limitations on television advertising for HFSS products
between the hours of 5: 30am and 9pm. In the new study, researchers
used data on children's exposure to HFSS advertising during these hours,
as well as previously published information on the association between
exposure to HFSS advertising and children's caloric intake.

The study concluded that if all HFSS advertising in the UK was withdrawn
during the hours in question, the 3.7 million children in the UK would see
on average 1.5 fewer HFSS s per day and decrease their caloric intake by
an average of 9.1 kcal (95%CI 0.5-17.7). This would reduce the number of children aged 5 through 17 with obesity by 4.6% (95%CI 1.4-9.5) and the
number of children considered overweight by 3.6% (95%CI 1.1-7.4). This
is equivalent to 40,000 fewer UK children with obesity and 120,000 fewer classified as overweight and would result in a monetary benefit to the
UK of -L-7.4 billion (95%CI 2.0 billion-16 billion). The study only
considered the direct impact of HFSS advertising on children's caloric
intake and did not consider the impact of HFSS advertising on changing
both children's and adults' dietary preferences and habits.

"Measures which have the potential to reduce exposure to less-healthy food advertising on television could make a meaningful contribution to reducing childhood obesity," the authors say. However, they also point out that
"this is a modeling study and we cannot fully account for all factors
that would affect the impact of this policy if it was implemented."
"Our analysis shows that introducing a 9 PM watershed on unhealthy TV
food advertising can make a valuable contribution to protecting the
future health of all children in the UK, and help level up the health
of children from less affluent backgrounds," said Dr Mytton. "However,
children now consume media from a range of sources, and increasingly
from online and on-demand services, so in order to give all children
the opportunity to grow up healthy it is important l to ensure that this advertising doesn't just move to the 9-10pm slot and to online services."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Oliver T. Mytton, Emma Boyland, Jean Adams, Brendan Collins, Martin
O'Connell, Simon J. Russell, Kate Smith, Rebekah Stroud, Russell M.

Viner, Linda J. Cobiac. The potential health impact of restricting
less- healthy food and beverage advertising on UK television between
05.30 and 21.00 hours: A modelling study. PLOS Medicine, 2020; 17
(10): e1003212 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003212 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201013141752.htm

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