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Report Shows Least Nutritious Cereals Are Heavily Marketed to Children
A new study by researchers at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity suggests that the least healthy cereals are most aggressively marketed to children, Time magazine reports. Researchers reviewed cereal from 115 brands, identifying 19 that were marketed directly to children on television, the Internet or through licensed characters, such as Dora the Explorer. According to the data, cereals marketed directly to children contain 85 percent more sugar, 65 percent less fiber and 60 percent more sodium than cereals marketed to adults, and that report also found that preschool-age children in the U.S. view an average of 642 cereal commercials per year on television alone, almost all of which are for cereals with low nutrition value. Although food manufacturers have launched various efforts to improve the nutritional content of various cereals, the report suggests that such efforts have been minimal—for example, reducing the quantity of sugar per serving from 3.5 teaspoons per serving to 3 teaspoons per serving. Moreover, efforts to reduce unhealthy marketing to children, such as those made through the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, have not resulted in objective or meaningful changes, according to the report. Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, notes that “ceding authority to the food companies to regulate themselves is a mistake,” adding that “the companies want to be seen as public health allies making good faith efforts to change, but their actions indicate otherwise.” To address such issues, the report recommends that cereals marketed to children “meet objective nutrition standards that have children’s health as the aim” and that restrictions on children’s advertising apply to all forms of marketing (Rochman, Time magazine, 10/23/09; Colberg, Oklahoman, 10/27/09; Scott-Thomas, Food Navigator, 10/26/09; Cerealfacts.org report). (Editor’s note: The study in this article was supported by a grant from RWJF.)