Schools ringed by unhealthy ads

Secondary school students are surrounded by advertising for unhealthy foods, a University of Otago study has found.

The pilot study by medical student Anthony Maher discovered advertising for high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods make up 70 per cent of all outdoor food advertising within walking distance of 10 secondary schools.

The finding, to be published in the latest edition of the New Zealand Medical Journal, has one anti-obesity lobby group calling for regulations on outdoor advertising.

For two months, Mr Maher scoured streets within a kilometre of 10 Wellington and Wairarapa secondary schools, counting and classifying outdoor ads such as billboards, neon signs, posters, bus-shelter advertisements and images in shop windows.

His study is the first to measure the number and the kinds of advertisements students are exposed to just outside their schools.

Soft-drinks topped the list of advertised foods, making up more than a fifth of all food advertising, followed by ice-cream products and savoury snacks such as pies and potato chips.

"As nearly one-third of New Zealand children are overweight or obese, there is a pressing need for more research into how this kind of advertising might be affecting what school students are choosing to buy and eat," said Mr Maher.

This was especially important as the study took a conservative approach to the foods classified as unhealthy for adolescents, he said. Under the study, foods that had a mix of good and bad nutritional characteristics, such as sports drinks, diet soft-drinks and coffee, were all classified as healthy.

Obesity Action Coalition executive director Celia Murphy wants the Government to regulate the advertising of high-sugar, high-fat foods, much like tobacco advertising bans round schools in the United States.

She was concerned that the high number of ads for unhealthy foods encouraged poor food choice among the young.

"There is good evidence that advertising influences children's food choices. The number and persuasiveness of the ads is so hard for parents to counter.

"The ubiquitous nature of the ads, and ready availability of unhealthy food, makes kids think it is completely normal to eat these foods every day. Even the most physically active people can't afford to eat food high in fat and sugar on a daily basis."

But the Association of New Zealand Advertisers said the obesity group was "grizzling".

Executive director Jeremy Irwin said its members were already doing many positive things to combat obesity under the Food Industry Accord signed last year between food manufacturers, distributors, retailers, advertisers and the media.

He also questioned the study's classification of "unhealthy" foods.

"Obesity is caused by overconsumption, not by any specific food."