Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Consumption for Childhood Obesity Prevention

Abstract

Currently, food marketing for unhealthy foods is omnipresent. Foods high in fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) are advertised intensively on several media platforms, including digital platforms that are increasingly used by children, such as social media, and can be bought almost everywhere. This could contribute to the obesity epidemic that we are facing. As the majority of children and adolescents do not eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables (F&V), which leads to chronic diseases, we need to change the obesogenic environment to a healthogenic environment. Reducing the marketing of energy-dense snacks to children and increasing the promotion of healthier foods, such as fruits and vegetables, may be an effective and necessary instrument to improve the dietary intake of children and reduce the risk of their experiencing some chronic diseases later in life. With this focused narrative review, we provide an overview of how children and adolescents react to food promotions and how food promotional efforts might be a useful tool to increase the attractiveness of fruit and vegetables. This review therefore contributes to the question of how changing the advertising and media environment of children and adolescents could help create a world where the healthy choice is the easier choice, which would reduce childhood obesity and improve children’s health, as well as to make the food system more sustainable.