New Zealanders back curb on junk food marketing to children: survey

Most New Zealanders would back government actions to restrict the marketing of unhealthy food to children, according to the results of a survey out on Monday.

The independent poll showed 73 percent of adults supported controls in New Zealand, which has no government regulation of the marketing of sugary and junk food to children and has the third highest rate of childhood obesity among wealthy countries.

The poll of 1,620 New Zealanders, commissioned by the University of Auckland's School of Population Health, asked if they would be in favor of stronger restrictions on advertizing and promotion to children.

Forty-one percent said they would be strongly in favor and 32 percent somewhat in favor of restrictions.

It also found strong majorities in favor of regulating of unhealthy food and drink promotions in television advertizing, website games and competitions, and in children's sports activities.

"This finding is not surprising," Prof. Boyd Swinburn said in a statement.

"Parents do not like having to say 'No' to their children all the time. The pester power that the marketing to children creates really undermines parents' efforts to give their children a healthy diet."

The cost of obesity in New Zealand was estimated at 1 billion NZ dollars (651.5 million U.S. dollars) per year for healthcare and lost productivity caused by obesity related illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

Regulation was usually one of the top cost-effective strategies to reduce childhood obesity, said Swinburn.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) Commission to End Childhood Obesity, led by the New Zealand Prime Minister's chief science advisor, Prof. Peter Gluckman, had issued an interim report calling for much stronger government-led restrictions, and WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan had also called for "regulatory and statutory approaches" to food marketing. Endi