Kids as the Targets of Junk Food Advertising: Lessons From Chile

In our media-saturated world, our kids are impressionable targets for advertisements for foods that are “high in” ingredients linked to obesity and nutrition-related disease: saturated fats, sodium, sugar, and calories. Children who see these ads have poorer health trajectories and higher rates of obesity. Unhealthy food ads contradict every parent’s best intentions to provide their child with a nutritionally balanced diet, turning daily choices into hair-pulling battles and grocery aisle meltdowns.In this episode, we are joined by nutritional epidemiologist Dr. Lindsey Smith Taillie and media effects researcher Dr. Francesca Dillman Carpentier, who teamed up to understand the impact of global food policies that restrict advertising of unhealthy foods toward children. The study examines a case study of new regulations that rolled out in Chile, and how the country took a stand against food advertising for the sake of preserving the health of children. Lessons from Chile are spreading across the world and could serve as a model for reducing the influence of advertising on poor dietary choices for kids in the United States, where one in five children are obese. Learn more about the UNC Global Food Research Program here: https://www.globalfoodresearchprogram.org/Read the paper published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12966-023-01454-w