28 January 2004
Ban on food advertising ‘would not impact obesity rates in children'
The Hastings Review, published in 2003 by the Food Standards Agency, examined the link between food promotion and eating behaviour in children and concluded that advertising to children has an adverse impact on food preferences, purchasing behaviour and consumption. Dr David Ashton, writing in the February issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, argues that the evidence contained in the Hastings Review does not support its conclusions and that, despite widespread press and media comment to the contrary, 'there is no reason to believe that a complete ban on advertising would have any useful impact on childhood obesity rates'.
A critical look at the Hastings Review
Dr Ashton, of the Clinical Epidemiology/Cardiac Medicine
Department at Imperial College School of Medicine, points
out that if the Hastings Review is to be used as the
justification for policy change or legislation, its methodology
and findings merit close scrutiny. He says the review
lacks good quality scientific evidence. Most of the articles
used for the critical areas of the study 'were
North American in origin and 20-30 years old'.
Moreover, the dominant influence on children’s
eating habits was parental behaviour, having an effect 'fifteen
times greater than that of television advertising'.
Also, 'two of the most cited studies do not in
fact support the view that food promotion or TV advertising
are important in determining the food consumption behaviour
of children.' The Hastings Review itself states: 'there
is no prima facie reason to assume that food promotion
will undermine children’s dietary health; it can
influence it, but this influence could just as easily
be positive as negative.'
Other contradicting evidence
Dr Ashton cites other evidence to suggest that there is
no causal association between food advertising and obesity
in children. In Quebec, where food advertising to children
has been banned since 1980, obesity rates are no different
from those in other Canadian provinces. A similar decade -
long ban in Sweden has not resulted in any significant
reduction in the country’s obesity rates.
The modern sedentary lifestyle
Rather than a problem of energy intake, Dr Ashton claims
that the key issue in both childhood and adult obesity
is the dramatic decline in physical activity. 'If
we wanted to equate our activity patterns with those
of our ancestors, we would need to be walking about 8-10
miles per day,' he says, adding that the role of
schools in promoting an active lifestyle, rather than
competitive sport, needs more emphasis and funding.
Dr Ashton concludes, 'Blaming the advertising industry for childhood obesity may attract popular support, but I’m afraid it misses the point. The real scandal is the decline in physical activity among today's children, which is overwhelmingly more important than any marginal effects of food advertising.'
NB. Dr Ashton has no conflicts of interest.
[ends]
Food advertising and childhood obesity [PDF 46k]
JRSM is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. It has been published continuously since 1809. Its Editor is Dr Kamran Abbasi.
