How many times do you see commercials about unhealthy foods on TV? Surely you think that every day, and so it is. But the worst part is not that, the worst part is that many of these ads are directed at boys and girls. Boys and girls who are not aware of what is healthy for them and who think that if it appears on TV it is because it is a good option for their health, when it is not.

For this reason, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs led by Alberto Garzón is thinking of banning this type of advertisement aimed at children and also that famous people or characters that can influence children even more when they see this type of television propaganda do not appear.

Avoid childhood obesity

The purpose of banning these advertisements directed at children (under 15 years of age) is to prevent childhood obesity and overweight due to the terrible consequences it has for both short and long-term health.

It will be a reform that will be carried out through the PAOS Code (Coregulation Code for food and beverage advertising aimed at minors, obesity prevention and health). Currently, there is an established law that protects children up to the age of 12 from this type of advertisement, and by increasing the age to 15, it tries to improve general health. Therefore, the intention is to limit food advertising to those that are healthier for people, and especially for children.

For children to be more likely to become healthy adults with a good relationship with food, they must, from an early age, work on and understand healthy eating. In this way, as they grow, it will be easier for them to eat a healthy and balanced diet that allows them to have better health, and above all, avoid being overweight or obese.

Childhood obesity is a major social problem that must be curbed as soon as possible. The advantages of breastfeeding for the mother and her baby, according to the WHO. It is not just a matter for parents and pediatricians, it is a social matter in which we all must participate in order to improve the alarming statistics regarding poor diet and nutrition of children in our country.

More and more children are overweight or obese, and according to the WHO, 4 out of 10 children between 6 and 9 years old are overweight.

Nutri Score

What is Nutri-Score? When we talk about Nutri-Score we are talking about a way of knowing if food has nutritional quality. It is what is commonly known as the “traffic light” of food, which has five colors that tell you if a specific type of food is more or less healthy. In these cases, the green color would indicate that it is healthy and the red that it is unhealthy and therefore not recommended for consumption within a healthy and balanced diet.

To make the code easier to understand, each color is associated with a letter (A, B, C, D, E). The Ministry of Consumer Affairs also wants to prohibit famous people and characters that may influence children (such as cartoons) from participating in these ads.

advertising control

According to experts, advertising on infant nutrition hardly has a control that works correctly to prevent obesity problems. In this sense, it is necessary to seek solutions as soon as possible that protect the most vulnerable population: children. For this reason, from the Senate it seems appropriate to start having this more restrictive control and that in this way, unhealthy eating habits in the youngest population of society can be changed.

In addition, the Nutri-Score system, mentioned above, is to be implemented by 2021 to make it easier for both parents and children to identify the nutritional quality of the food that is being placed in the shopping cart.