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Most food and drinks content material posted by German influencers on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube is so unhealthy it fails World Well being Organisation (WHO) promoting requirements for youngsters, in accordance with new analysis being offered by Dr Maria Wakolbinger and Dr Eva Winzer from the Medical College of Vienna at this yr’s European Congress on Weight problems (ECO) in Maastricht, Netherlands (4-7 Might).

The Austrian researchers analysed the meals, snacks, and drinks that made an look in posts and movies by six of the most well-liked German-speaking influencers with youngsters aged 13-17 years, with a mixed complete of greater than 35 million followers or subscribers.

They discovered that 75% of the featured meals and drinks have been excessive in salt, fats, or sugar and wouldn’t be permitted for advertising to youngsters; and the bulk weren’t clearly signposted as adverts.

Chocolate and sweets have been probably the most generally featured merchandise influencers posted about, underscoring the pressing want for insurance policies and efficient regulation of influencer advertising to youngsters, researchers say.

“How can we count on our youngsters to eat healthily when content material on social media is skewed to advertise meals excessive in fats, salt, and sugar”, says Dr Wakolbinger. “Influencers have large energy over what younger folks really feel is related and interesting. Our findings counsel that more often than not, influencers should not flagging when their posts are adverts—it’s crucial governments take discover.”

Childhood weight problems is on the rise, with practically one in 5 youngsters or adolescents around the globe presently chubby or overweight [1]. In Germany, over 15% of youngsters between the ages of three and 17 are chubby or overweight [2]. The advertising of unhealthy merchandise is recognised as an necessary contributor to unhealthy weight achieve in childhood—affecting youngsters’s meals preferences and consuming behaviours. Due to this fact, proscribing youngsters’s publicity to such advertising is a vital world precedence for stopping weight problems [3]. Nonetheless, little is thought concerning the frequency and content material of visible shows of meals and beverage merchandise featured by influencers in German-speaking international locations.

To supply extra proof, researchers analysed the social media posts of meals and drinks on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram by six German-speaking influencers (three feminine, three male). The influencers have been chosen based mostly on having greater than 100,000 subscribers or followers on all three platforms, their recognition with younger folks aged 13 to 17 years, and German content material.

Researchers analysed the final 20 movies or posts uploaded by every influencer earlier than 1 Might, 2021. A number of objects appeared in some posts. Every meals or drink merchandise was coded both as ‘permitted’ or ‘not permitted’ for advertising to youngsters utilizing the WHO Regional Workplace for Europe’s nutrient profile mannequin—a system which ranks merchandise on their healthiness based mostly on their ranges of sugar, salt, and fats, fibre [4]. Researchers additionally assessed whether or not promoting content material was being correctly disclosed.

Of the 364 movies/posts (nearly 13 hours of footage), 1 / 4 featured meals or drinks (409 merchandise)—together with half of the movies on YouTube, practically a fifth (17%) on TikTok, and seven% on Instagram, equal to a median of 18 merchandise per hour.

Primarily based on the WHO nutrient profile mannequin, 75% of the featured meals and drinks have been thought-about unhealthy and shouldn’t be marketed to youngsters; 17% have been permitted; and eight% couldn’t be decided attributable to a scarcity of dietary data or didn’t match into both class.

Chocolate and sweets have been probably the most generally posted about meals—making up nearly 1 / 4 of posts. Prepared-made comfort meals accounted for 9% of posts.

Over half (53%) of the merchandise have been described and offered positively by the influencers, 42% neutrally, and 5% negatively. Virtually three-quarters (73%) of the merchandise have been proven being consumed by the influencers themselves.

In 60% of the movies, the product was talked about within the video description. Of these, 19% of the movies talked about the model identify or firm, and 41% talked about the meals itself. Nonetheless, simply 11% of the movies disclosed the product as an advert within the video description, and solely 3% within the video itself.

Based on Dr Eva Winzer, “We should crackdown on social media and problem the position of influencers in junk meals advertising. That is the place regulation can come into play. Spain has lately introduced plans to ban influencers pushing unhealthy food and drinks to youngsters, however in most international locations there are not any restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy meals on web sites, social media, or cell purposes. Governments should undertake a complete method, concentrating on a number of media channels to make sure our youngsters are inspired to make wholesome way of life decisions.”
 

For interviews with article creator Dr Eva Winzer, Medical College of Vienna, Austria, please contact E) eva.winzer@meduniwien.ac.at T) +43 1 40160 34886

Various contact within the ECO Press Room: Tony Kirby T) + 44(0)7834 385827 E) tony@tonykirby.com

Notes to editors:

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For press launch in Portuguese click on right here

[1] Weight problems and chubby (who.int)
[2] Journal of Well being Monitoring | 1/2018 | Chubby and weight problems. KiGGS Wave 2 (rki.de)
[3] Rising to the problem: Introducing protocols to watch meals advertising to youngsters from the World Well being Group Regional Workplace for Europe – Tatlow‐Golden – 2021 – Weight problems Evaluations – Wiley On-line Library
[4] The WHO Regional Workplace for Europe  nutrient profile mannequin works as a template for governments to outline which meals and drinks can be permitted for promoting to youngsters WHO/Europe | Diet – Monitoring of Advertising of Unhealthy Merchandise to Youngsters and Adolescents – Protocols and Templates

The examine obtained no funding

The authors declare no conflicts of curiosity.

This press launch relies on oral presentation AD09.04 on the European Congress on Weight problems (ECO). All accepted abstracts have been extensively peer reviewed by the congress choice committee. There isn’t any full paper at this stage, however the authors are completely happy to reply your questions. The analysis has not but been submitted to a medical journal for publication. Because the presentation is oral there is no such thing as a poster out there.

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