WHO has released new recommendations and guidelines to countries to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing. The WHO has recommended countries to implement comprehensive mandatory policies to protect children of all ages from the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages that are high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and/or salt (HFSS).

The recommendations are based on the findings of reviews of recent evidence, including how exposure to and the power of food marketing affects children’s health, eating behaviours, and food-related attitudes and beliefs. WHO has also said that food marketing remains to be a public threat and continues to negatively affect children’s health and food choices as well as their dietary intake. It also says that the harmful marketing does negatively influences the development of children’s norms about food consumption.

Dr. Arun Gupta, senior paediatrician, and Convener of Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi), a national think-tank on nutrition, said that children of all ages should be protected from the marketing of foods that are high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and/or salt.

He said that, “For India, the work is cut out clearly. While India is already working on the draft regulations, it can finalise quickly the definition of HFSS and use it for both warning labels, as well as restriction of marketing”. He also said that the current regulations are almost absent on restriction of marketing of unhealthy ultra-processed food.

WHO in its guidelines recommended mandatory regulation of marketing of HFSS foods and non-alcoholic beverages. WHO has also recommended countries to use a nutrient profile model, which governments lead the development of and adopting policies comprehensive enough to minimize intra and inter-medium migration to avoid restrictions on marketing in regulated channels or settings.

Dr Francesco Branca, Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety of WHO said, “Aggressive and pervasive marketing of foods and beverages high in fats, sugars and salt to children is responsible for unhealthy dietary choices” and that calls to responsible marketing practices have not had a meaningful impact. Governments should establish strong and comprehensive regulations.

WHO has also said that all of these guidelines aim to support governments in creating healthy food environments to facilitate healthy dietary decisions, establish lifelong healthy eating habits, improve dietary quality and decrease the risk of noncommunicable diseases worldwide.