Some of the 17,000 Year 6 students are obese or overweight in England, according to recent statistics. Now, health experts are calling government's attention in banning junk food advertisements before 9 p.m. to protect young people from being exposed in the promotion of unhealthy foods.
The British Heart Foundation recently released a figure, showing that a third of Year 6 children in England are obese. And around 33 percent of them are from the regions of Humber and Yorkshire. Hence, the foundation is calling for a ban on all junk food commercials before 9 p.m. as they think that it is the best solution to protect the children from unhealthy food consumption.
BHF's calling came after they discovered that millions of children across the U.K. are being exposed to unhealthy food advertisements during the airing of popular shows, such as Hollyoaks and X Factor. For one, they found out that 13 junk food commercials were shown during the one episode of X Factor in 2015. The adverts include chocolate bars and pizzas, fostering unhealthy diet to children.
The study also found that children's peak viewing is between 7 and 8 p.m. And around 65 percent of them loves to watch TV during the adult airtime. Thus, BHF is now calling the attention of the government. For one, they are appealing to the agency to ban all junk food commercials before 9 p.m. as part of the Childhood Obesity Strategy initiatives.
Mike Hobday, director of policy at the BHF, said as per The Visitor, "We must not allow food companies to continue to exploit a failing regulatory system that allows them to bombard TV screens with junk food adverts at the times when the highest numbers of children are watching TV." He further added that all of the agencies involved should protect the children against the marketing techniques that encourage them to unhealthy eating.
