On behalf of our chief executive, I offer his apologies that he could not be here with us today. On behalf of the foundation and the National Heart Alliance, I thank the committee for this opportunity to discuss a critical and important health issue relevant to communications. It is a timely opportunity.
I will briefly outline who we are. I also acknowledge the new Broadcasting Bill 2008, which is now before the Seanad. I welcome it, particularly the articles that provide for protecting children from foods high in fat, sugar and salt. As a public health body, we will revisit the health of our children. We will urgently call for the implementation of the regulations in the new Bill. We want to look at newer communication technologies, particularly the Internet, and what we could do in the future on this issue. Perhaps in learning from the UK experience, we can be informed about what our legislation might say.
The Irish Heart Foundation is a leading national charity. We fight to reduce premature death and disability from cardiovascular disease, especially heart attack and stroke. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer, causing 10,000 deaths each year.
The National Heart Alliance is a group of 27 member organisations. It was set up by the Irish Heart Foundation in 1998 as part of an EU-funded initiative to look at heart health issues and, subsequently, child obesity. As an alliance in Ireland, we have focused on the following: children, particularly physical activity where we have done some work; nutrition, on which we made a statement; and food marketing, which has been a particular concern since 2005.
On the health of our children in the context of obesity, as the committee will probably be well aware, the current status is quite problematic. One in five Irish children aged five to 12 years and teenagers is overweight or obese. Ireland is ahead of the European average, which is one in six children. Sadly, an obese child is more likely to become an obese adult. That is one of the main health consequences. However, in children who are overweight or obese we are also seeing early signs of heart disease, high blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol and even the development of type 2 diabetes, which is adult on-set diabetes. Typically, up to ten or 20 years ago, such diabetes was only seen in middle age people.
We have concerns that we will see the reversal of the trend in the past 30 years where we reduced premature death and disability from cardiovascular disease. The burden to the Exchequer and to health of increasing levels of heart disease is certainly of concern.
The national children's survey gives one explanation of the issue. One fifth of Irish children's energy intake comes from sweets, snacks and biscuits — foods from the top shelf of the food pyramid that should only be taken on occasion as a treat. There is a daily intake of sugary soft drinks, averaging approximately two glasses. As a result, some Irish children have low intakes of calcium, iron and essential vitamins.
For example, a four year old child requires approximately 1,400 calories per day. If a child is to consume on average one can of fizzy drink and a packet of crisps, this amounts to 350 calories, leaving only approximately 1,000 calories from which to draw essential nutrients for growth and development. There are children who are consuming 1,400 calories from regular family meals and from healthy nutritious sources, but if they are adding such snack foods, that would in part explain an increase in weight.
To be clear, we are speaking of the marketing of foods high in fat, sugar and salt. These are, typically, salty and sugary snacks high in fat, fast foods, confectionery, biscuits, cakes, chocolate bars, etc., and sweetened cereals, particularly breakfast cereals targeted at children. A National Consumer Association survey with Choice showed that none of the breakfast cereals on the market in Ireland passed the health mark. They were all high in one or all of fat, sugar or, in particular, salt.
The key issue for the regulations will be determining what will be an unhealthy food. There is good evidence from the UK, in particular, of nutrient profiling and that it can work. Energy-dense foods contribute to calories in the diet. They encourage passive over-consumption or mindless eating, and often displace healthier foods.
We are focusing on marketing, not in the broadest commercial sense, but purely on those media that are of particular relevance to this committee. Television advertising enjoys the major spend at approximately 70% of food advertising. Of course, we are concerned about what is happening in schools and sponsorship of sports, but we are also concerned that the Internet is being more extensively used. Games that are seen as entertaining are highly branded and promote products in a subtle, playful creative way. Through the Internet there are added incentives and giveaways such as vouchers for concerts and, of course, there is the area of video games. Texting is another area. There is also the cinema, as well as the print media, including magazines.
We published a paper which we sent to the committee and it is on foot of this that we asked to meet with the committee. We updated the scientific evidence on the issue. We believe there is a strong political momentum at national and EU levels on this issue. The bottom line in our position is that the Irish Heart Foundation and all 27 organisations of the National Heart Alliance call for no television advertising before 9 p.m. of foods which are high in fat, sugar and salt.
For the purposes of this presentation I focused on one of the most important reports, namely, the technical report from the World Health Organization which states that strong scientific rationale is available through robust science and research — that is strong terminology in describing scientific evidence — that links commercial promotion of foods and beverages to poor diets. We refer not merely to obesity, but to poor nutrition and under-nutrition which can have other damaging effects on health, including osteoporosis, poor growth development and poor mental health. The conclusion of the report was there is extensive food and drink promotion aimed at children. Children engage with and appreciate this promotion, it overwhelmingly relates to foods high in fat, sugar and salt and it undermines the healthy eating message we are trying to deliver through the Department of Health and Children, our Little Steps campaign, which is being run by the HSE, and, particularly, the social personal and health education curriculum in schools. We also deliver this message through the everyday work of the Irish Heart Foundation and the members of the National Heart Alliance. Such food promotion has a damaging effect on children's food knowledge, attitudes, purchasing behaviour and consumption.
The next slide, which members will have seen before and is featured in our report, is the inverse pyramid that shows most food advertised to children comes from the top shelf; they are the foods we should eat least. There is very little advertising of fruit, vegetables and fibre foods. The World Health Organization estimates that for every €1 it spends on health messages, the food industry spends €500 on promoting unhealthy foods.
The European Heart Network conducted a survey in which the Irish Heart Foundation and the National Heart Alliance were involved and this confirmed the massive scale of the marketing of unhealthy foods across Europe. The findings backed up the stance of the World Health Organization on the need for European and national measures. It is an important point that food advertising to children was selected as one of five top policies to tackle obesity and other chronic diseases across 20 countries. There was wide consultation of many stakeholders from the industry, public health and consumer organisations and EU-based organisations. There are many other political, scientific and consumer reports but there is a consensus in calling for action and controls on marketing food to children.
It is important to set out what Irish consumers and parents have to say. In 2008 we conducted a survey of 1,000 parents through Red C omnibus research. Nine out of ten parents agreed that food advertising influences their children's food choices and four out of five agreed to a ban on advertising unhealthy food before 9 p.m. There is public support for this initiative among parents and consumers.
Ireland has been progressive and the children's advertising code is welcome but we must acknowledge it is mainly directed at the broadcast media. The code is a good start but it is not enough; a review has just been published and we saw it only this week. We welcome some of the review's recommendations but the code still exposes children to advertising as it does not take into account the cumulative effect of advertising, including advertising on television. This cumulative effect involves the other channels of communication food companies use — I listed them in an earlier slide. The Internet is not regulated and this presents challenges. Other channels of communication such as the cinema, billboards, sports arenas and areas where children congregate are also causes of concern. These channels can be heavily branded by companies promoting unhealthy foods.
I gave an incorrect reference regarding the Ofcom review — I said it was conducted by the Department of Health. It is in fact a review by Ofcom of its own rules that was conducted at the end of last year. Regulations in the UK restrict advertising to children during children's programming and this had various results. As a result of the regulations children saw less advertising, fewer advertisements featuring characters, fewer brand characters associated with a particular product, fewer celebrities, fewer promotions and fewer health claims. However, outside children's air time all of these techniques increased, except character licensing. Members might ask why this occurred. The number of food and drink advertisements has increased overall in the UK, mainly due to the proliferation of channels. In addition, and importantly, food and drink advertisements have shifted from children's air time to adults' air time and this has been driven by the restrictions. The regulations relating to children up to 16 years of age only apply until 7 p.m. and there are no restrictions thereafter. The net effect of the changes is that children are exposed to slightly more advertising.
Regarding the impact on broadcasters, despite the fall in food and drink advertisement revenues for children's channels overall, revenues have been increased. Advertising relating to reformulation products, healthy products and non-food areas has increased; the increase in the advertising of healthy foods is welcome.
We will keep working on this area and we call for the regulations proposed by the new broadcasting authority to be implemented as soon as possible, while taking into account the recently published review of the children's code. Specifically, we feel the diet and nutrition category should be reviewed. We ask that the code prohibit the advertising of unhealthy foods to children before 9 p.m., given what happened in the UK. We would like the committee to make recommendations on how we can proceed with the systematic monitoring of the nature and extent of food advertising and marketing in all communications directed at children. This could, in turn, inform policy makers. We must monitor such marketing on the Internet. Ongoing research is required on the overall impact of food promotion, marketing and advertising. We have supplied a list of the National Heart Alliance members who support the position paper for the information of committee members.
A major advertising conference is held by ISBA in the UK every year and last year Baroness Jean Coussins spoke of the impact of advertising. I will allow committee members to read for themselves what advertisers say about the impact of advertising.
