A dental charity and health pressure group have welcomed the government’s new consultation on proposals to ban online adverts for unhealthy food.

Research shows children are exposed to more than 15 billion adverts for products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) online every year.

Evidence shows that exposure to HFSS advertising can affect what children eat and when they eat.

It increases the amount of food children eat immediately after being exposed to an advert, and shapes longer-term food preferences from a young age.

The consultation will run for six weeks.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘I am determined to help parents, children and families in the UK make healthier choices about what they eat.
We know as children spend more time online, parents want to be reassured they are not being exposed to adverts promoting unhealthy foods, which can affect eating habits for life.
This will be a world-leading measure to tackle the obesity challenges we face now but it will also address a problem that will only become more prominent in the future.’

Welcoming the move, Dr Saul Konviser, of the Dental Wellness Trust, said: ‘Oral health is a key indicator of overall health, wellbeing and quality of life and yet unfortunately, tooth decay remains one of the most common non-communicable diseases worldwide. It is therefore imperative that only non-HFSS food and drink products can be marketed and promoted to children across all forms of media - and that must include a total online ban on promotions and advertising.’

‘As the latest figures by the Local Government Association show, nearly 45,000 hospital operations were performed to remove rotten teeth in 2018/19 which is a stark reminder that too much sugar, especially in children's diets, can have dire consequences. And what’s most concerning is this is all entirely preventable.’

Professor Graham MacGregor, Chair of Action on Sugar, said: ‘We very much welcome this consultation on whether only healthy food and drink should be advertised online as it gives the opportunity for ministers to hear from the many parents who are frustrated with their children being bombarded with advertising for unhealthy foods.

‘As the message from the government has been to 'stay home' for much of the year in the fight against COVID-19, this will have no doubt vastly increased children’s exposure to such irresponsible marketing which casts unhealthy products in the spotlight.

‘It’s therefore vital that a total ban across all online platforms is introduced which would ensure that all loopholes, including paid-for promotions whereby brands are using marketing techniques to push junk food ads, would be firmly closed and help turn the tide on obesity.’

Further advertising restrictions are widely supported by the public, with polling from 2019 showing that 72% of public support a 9pm watershed on junk food adverts during popular family TV shows and that 70% support a 9pm watershed online.

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