68% of the most popular foods aimed at children in Europe have an unbalanced nutritional profile. Too much fat, sugar and salt, and too little fiber. Junk food. The study by the Research Center of the European Commission. (1)
Junk food for children in Europe. European research
The scientific study conducted by the JRC (Joint Research Center) evaluated the nutritional profile of 2691 packaged foods aimed at a young audience. The sample was extracted from the Euromonitor database, considering the best-selling products in 20 member countries.
The foods were compared with two nutritional standards established to assess their suitability of foods to be promoted to children. The first, more lenient system was defined by an organization it represents Big food and advertisers in Europe. (2) The second, more rigorous, is instead that of the WHO (World Health Organization).
68% of the products turns out to have unbalanced nutritional profiles. They are therefore unsuitable for contributing to a balanced diet in the population segment considered. The researchers, in particular, looked at 5 categories of products:
- breakfast cereals. Too many sugars and few dietary fibers, despite appearances,
- yogurt. Too much sugar and excess fat, both total and saturated,
- ready meals, preparations based on meat and fish or shellfish. Too much salt and excessive calories.
Nutritional profiles, the scissor Big Food-WHO
The nutritional profiles processed by Big food and by European advertisers, on average, 48% of products are rejected. With a maximum peak for processed meats (65%) and a minimum for yoghurt (29%). With the application of the new standard, launched in 2018 and applied since the end of 2019, the threshold for rejected foods rises to 55%.
The WHO standard (World Health Organization) of reference to assess the suitability of foods to be advertised to minors, on the other hand, involves the rejection of 68% of the products examined. With a peak of 80% for cereals and a minimum of 31% for processed fish.
HFSS foods, a time bomb
To stem the obesity epidemic and protect young Europeans from marketing by junk food, the EU directive on audiovisual media it merely 'encourages' member states. To promote industry self-regulation by limiting children's exposure to HFSS food and beverage advertising (High in Fats, Sugar and Sodium). Although the dramatic data on the rampant epidemic of childhood obesity and related diseases demonstrate the total ineffectiveness of the self regulation.
Like a time bomb, the bad recipes of today's industrial foods will produce new sufferers tomorrow. Junk food, in particular ultraprocessed foods, it is in fact the primary cause of chronic non-communicable diseases. The cd NCDs (Non-Communicable Diseases) such as obesity, heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes, tilt of the immune system.
Footnotes
(1) Storcksdieck genannt Bonsmann S, Robinson M, Wollgast J, Caldeira S (2019). The ineligibility of food products from across the EU for marketing to children according to two EU-level nutrient profile models. PLoS ONE 14 (10): e0213512. doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0213512 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213512
(2) Pledge EU. EU Pledge Nutrition Criteria White Paper. 2015. V. https://eu-pledge.eu/
(3) World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. WHO Regional Office for Europe nutrient profile model [Internet]. 2015. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/270716/Nutrient-children_web-new.pdf?ua=1
A professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic studies on food and has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
