Systematic review of the effect of policies to restrict the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to which children are exposed

Boyland, Emma ORCID: 0000-0001-8384-4994, McGale, Lauren, Maden, Michelle ORCID: 0000-0003-4419-6343, Hounsome, Juliet ORCID: 0000-0002-2026-3778, Boland, Angela ORCID: 0000-0002-5435-8644 and Jones, Andrew (2022) Systematic review of the effect of policies to restrict the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to which children are exposed. OBESITY REVIEWS, 23 (8). e13447-.

Text WHO effectiveness of policies_author accepted version.docx - Author Accepted Manuscript Download (248kB)

Abstract

This systematic review examined the effectiveness of policies restricting the marketing of foods and/or non-alcoholic beverages to children to inform updated World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Databases were searched to March 2020. Inclusion criteria were primary studies of any design assessing implemented policies to restrict food marketing to children (0-19 years). Critical outcomes were exposure to and power of marketing, dietary intake, choice, preference, and purchasing. Important outcomes were purchase requests, dental caries, body weight, diet-related noncommunicable diseases, product change, and unintended consequences. Forty-four observational studies met inclusion criteria; most were moderate quality. Pooling was conducted using vote counting by direction of effect, and GRADE was used to judge evidence certainty. Evidence suggests food marketing policies may result in reduced purchases of unhealthy foods and in unintended consequences favorable for public health. Desirable or potentially desirable (for public health) effects of policies on food marketing exposure and power were also found. Evidence on diet and product change was very limited. The certainty of evidence was very low for four outcomes (exposure, power, dietary intake, and product change) and low for two (purchasing and unintended consequences). Policies can effectively limit food marketing to children; policymakers should prioritize mandatory approaches aligned with WHO recommendations.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	children, exposure, food marketing, policy
Divisions:	Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	10 Mar 2022 10:28
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 21:11
DOI:	10.1111/obr.13447
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3150503