IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i20p7699-d432620.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nutrient Composition of Foods Marketed to Children or Adolescents Sold in the Spanish Market: Are They Any Better?

Author

Listed:
  • Marta Beltrá

    (Institute of Bioengineering, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Elche, Spain)

  • Keila Soares-Micoanski

    (Institute of Bioengineering, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Elche, Spain)

  • Eva-Maria Navarrete-Muñoz

    (Grupo de Investigación en Terapia Ocupacional (InTeO), Department of Surgery and Pathology, Miguel Hernández University, 03550 Alicante, Spain)

  • Ana B. Ropero

    (Institute of Bioengineering, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Elche, Spain)

Abstract

Healthy eating is essential for the growth and development of children and adolescents. Eating habits established in childhood continue into adulthood. In Spain, the frequent promotion of foods with low nutritional value is already considered a threat to the health of the population, particularly to children and adolescents. In this work, we analyse 3209 foods from the Food Database, BADALI. Foods were classified as marketed to children or adolescents according to the advertising on the packaging, television or internet. We found that 17.5% of foods in the database were marketed to this population and 97% of those were considered unhealthy following the Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Profile Model (PAHO-NPM). In the total of foods for children or adolescents, 61.5% were high in fat, 58.5% in free-sugar, 45.4% in saturated fat and 45% in sodium. Foods marketed to them presented higher amounts of carbohydrates and sugar, while lower protein and fibre content than the rest. There was also considerable variability in levels of the other nutrients found in these products, which depended largely on the food group. According to our findings, there is a tendency for products marketed to children or adolescents to be unhealthy and of a poorer nutritional quality than those not targeted at them.

Suggested Citation

  • Marta Beltrá & Keila Soares-Micoanski & Eva-Maria Navarrete-Muñoz & Ana B. Ropero, 2020. "Nutrient Composition of Foods Marketed to Children or Adolescents Sold in the Spanish Market: Are They Any Better?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:20:p:7699-:d:432620
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/20/7699/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/20/7699/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charlene Elliott, 2008. "Marketing Fun Foods: A Profile and Analysis of Supermarket Food Messages Targeted at Children," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 34(2), pages 259-274, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alberto Bertossi & Stefania Troiano & Francesco Marangon, 2022. "Where is sustainability? An assessment of vending products," RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA', FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 155-180.
    2. Felicia J. Setiono & Navika Gangrade & Tashara M. Leak, 2021. "U.S. Adolescents’ Diet Consumption Patterns Differ between Grocery and Convenience Stores: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-11, August.
    3. Fernanda Mediano Stoltze & Marcela Reyes & Taillie Lindsey Smith & Teresa Correa & Camila Corvalán & Francesca R. Dillman Carpentier, 2019. "Prevalence of Child-Directed Marketing on Breakfast Cereal Packages before and after Chile’s Food Marketing Law: A Pre- and Post-Quantitative Content Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-15, November.
    4. Hartmann, Monika & Cash, Sean B. & Yeh, Ching-Hua & Landwehr, Stefanie C. & McAlister, Anna R., 2016. "Children’s purchase behavior in the snack market: Can branding or low price motivate a healthy choice?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235841, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Elliott, Charlene, 2014. "Food as people: Teenagers' perspectives on food personalities and implications for healthy eating," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 85-90.
    6. Charlene Elliott & Natalie V. Scime, 2019. "Nutrient Profiling and Child-Targeted Supermarket Foods: Assessing a “Made in Canada” Policy Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-12, February.
    7. Charlene Elliott, 2019. "Assessing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Marketed to Children in Canada," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-11, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:20:p:7699-:d:432620. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.