Our Cheshire Day Nursery prides itself on providing healthy, freshly prepared meals and snacks for your children.
Parents in the UK feel pressured into buying junk food for their children that has previously been advertising on TV, according to research published by the British Heart Foundation (BHF.)
The survey has been published in time for ‘Heart Month’ in February and reveals that 70 per cent of 2,100 parents had experienced pressure from their children to buy junk food, whilst more than 40 per cent said they we’re asked more than once a week.
The results further revealed that almost 40 per cent of parents asked, thought that junk food television adverts could be responsible for preventing their children from eating a healthy diet.
Director of policy at the British Heart Foundation, Mike Hobday, said: “Regulations for TV and online advertising in the UK are weak. Loopholes in the system mean that every day millions of children are exposed to sophisticated marketing techniques specifically designed to lure them into unhealthy eating habits.
“This evidence shows that junk food ads are having a detrimental impact on children’s behaviour and are hindering parents’ efforts to get their children to eat healthily.
“We cannot allow companies to continue exploiting holes in the system at the expense of our children’s health. The Government must act now to help give children a stronger chance at fending off future heart disease.”
According to the BHF, almost one third of UK children are obese or overweight, increasing their chances of becoming or remaining obese during their adult lives and developing coronary heart disease, stroke or cancer.
Broadcasting regulator Ofcom revealed that adverts broadcast on television had the potential to impact on a child’s food choices, consumption and behaviour around food, especially in young children. The regulator also highlighted that young children find it difficult to identify what is broadcast as entertainment and what is an advert.
