www.childrensfoodcampaign.org.uk children’s diets some difficult home truths? richard watts,...

www.childrensfoodcampaign.org.uk

Children’s dietsSome difficult home truths?

Richard Watts, Children’s Food Campaign


Introduction

• The Children’s Food Campaign

• A crisis in children's diets?

• The health effects

• Restricting adverts is part of the solution

• An opportunity?


The Children’s Food Campaign

• The Children’s Food Campaign is made up of 171 national organisations and 143 local organisations

• 12,000 registered supporters

• Introduced the Children’s Food Bill, supported by 288 MPs

• Coordinated by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming


The Children’s Food Campaign

We campaign to:

• Protect children from junk food advertising and marketing

• Introduce better, clearer food labelling

• Ensure all children learn food skills – like cooking and growing – in schools

• Keep improving food in schools


Thank you

A crisis in children’s

diets?


A crisis in children's diets?

There is a crisis in children’s diets:

• 92% of children consume more saturated fat than is recommended

• 86% consume too much sugar

• 72% consume too much salt

• 96% do not get enough fruit and vegetables

(Source: National Diet & Nutrition Survey)


A crisis in children's diets?

The Chief Medical Officer has compared the crisis in children’s diets to a health “time

bomb” which must be defused.

‘Health Check ‘annual report, 2003.


The health effects of the

children’s diet crisis


The health effects

• Diet-related ill health:– Obesity– Heart disease– Diabetes

• Mental health as well as physical health


The rise in childhood obesity

• A complex problem with a range of causes, but diet is clearly one of them

• One in three children is now obese or overweight

• Obesity in under-11s has risen by over 40% in ten years

Source: National Audit Office, Healthcare Commission, Audit Commission (2006); Tackling Childhood Obesity – First Steps.


Consequences of childhood obesity

• Heart disease: overweight children are 3 – 5 times more likely to suffer a heart attack later in life

• Diabetes: Type 2 diabetes used to be known as “late onset” - now prevalent among teenagers

• Obesity in childhood is likely to develop into obesity in adulthood, increasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes or cancer in later life


Costs of obesity

Each year obesity causes:

• Losses to the economy of between £6.6 billion and £7.4 billion

• 18 million days sick leave

• 30,000 premature deaths

Source: National Audit Office


Psychological effects

Junk food diets have significant effects on children’s behaviour, concentration, learning ability and mood.

Children with diets lacking in essential vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids tend to perform worse academically, cannot concentrate and are more aggressive.


To sum up:

“The Chair of the Food Standards Agency has warned that for the first time in more

than a century, life expectancy may fall, with the real prospect that parents may outlive

their children.”

‘Official: fat epidemic will cut life expectancy’, The Observer, 9 November 2003.


The role of advertising


The role of advertising

“Children are targeted every day with messages that promote foods that are high

in fat, salt or sugar, and this has been shown to influence children's food choices.”

Dame Deirdre Hutton, Chair, Food Standards Agency


The effect of advertising

“Advertising has an impact on children's food preferences, purchasing behaviour and

consumption at both brand and category levels and these effects are independent of

other factors”

Source: Hastings et al. ‘Does food promotion influence children? A systematic review.’ Food Standards Agency



“Experimental studies have shown that children exposed to food advertising prefer

to eat advertised food products more frequently than those children not exposed

to such adverts.”

Source: Story, M French, S Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US,

International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity



“Children are much easier to reach with advertising. They pick up on it fast and

quite often we can exploit that relationship and get them pestering

parents.”

Stephen Colegrave of Saatchi & Saatchi, quoted in The Guardian.


What is advertised?


When children watch TV

• Children (aged 4-15) watch an average of 17 hours of TV a week:

• 12 hours (71%) is spent in adult airtime

• 5 hours (29%) in children’s airtime

Restrictions during the hours of children’s TV will not work!


Benefits of a 9pm watershed

• Health benefits costed at up to almost £1billion a year, probably much more

• Removes 82% of junk food advert ‘hits’ with children

• Costs broadcasters c. £100 million – less than half what ITV gave to shareholders last year alone

Source: Ofcom


Cost effectiveness

• Australian study into cost effectiveness of different treatments for obesity

• Compared the cost of keeping one child healthy for an extra year:– Advertising restrictions: under $8– School programmes: $1000– More PE in schools: $5000– After-school physical activity: $50,000


Don’t believe the hype

• “The obesity problem isn’t to do with diet”

• “All foods can be healthy”

• “Food advertising only has a 2% effect”

• “Voluntary codes are more effective”

• “It’s parents’ responsibility”


Summary

• Restricting junk food adverts is not the only answer to the children’s diet crisis…

• …but it is the most cost effective…

• ...and saves a great deal more money that it costs.

• Finally, not restricting junk food TV adverts will undermine every other initiative to improve children’s diet and health.


And the future?

“I think we have got to do something about television advertising before the watershed hour”Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP on GMTV

October 2006


An opportunity?

• Consumer behaviour is changing

• The regulatory environment is getting tougher

• People can see through the spin

• Companies that adapt quickest will thrive

www.childrensfoodcampaign.org.uk children’s diets some difficult home truths? richard watts,...

Documents

childrens food campaign

childrens food bill

physical health slide

better food

farming slide

food skills

later life slide

national audit office