Key Points
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The largest study to date of the prevalence of advertising for foods and beverages potentially detrimental to dental health on UK television watched by children.
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Awareness of the high proportion of advertisements that children are exposed to for items that are potentially detrimental to dental health should inform policy in this area.
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Particular questions arising from these findings relate to how policymakers should handle foods that are classified as healthy from an obesity perspective but are detrimental to dental health.
Abstract
Objective To quantify the prevalence of advertising for foods and beverages potentially detrimental to dental health on UK television watched by children.
Design Content analysis of pre-recorded television advertisements (adverts).
Materials and methods Three hundred and fifty-two hours of television were recorded (one weekday and one weekend day, 6 am – 10 pm) from the main commercial channel (ITV1). All adverts were coded using pre-defined criteria.
Setting UK television recorded between January and December 2012.
Results Of 9,151 adverts, foods and beverages were the second most commonly advertised products (16.7%; n = 1,532). Nearly two-thirds of food adverts were for items that are potentially harmful to dental health (61%; n = 934). Of these, 96.6% were cariogenic and 11% were acidogenic foods. During peak children's viewing hours, the proportion of foods that are potentially harmful to dental health was significantly higher than for non-harmful foods (65.9% vs. 34.1%; p = 0.011). Adverts for foods potentially harmful to dental health were rare around children's programmes, but significantly more frequent during other programmes watched by children (p <0.001).
Conclusion UK children are exposed to a particularly high proportion of advertisements for foods that are potentially detrimental to their dental health during their peak viewing hours and around the programmes they watch the most.
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Acknowledgements
This study formed part of Mrs Muneera Al-Mazyad's DDSc dissertation at the University of Liverpool, Orthodontic Department, who hereby acknowledge the support of the Ministry of Health in Kuwait.
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Al-Mazyad, M., Flannigan, N., Burnside, G. et al. Food advertisements on UK television popular with children: a content analysis in relation to dental health. Br Dent J 222, 171–176 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2017.120
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2017.120
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