"Deceptive" Ultra-Processed Food Ads In India Fuel Obesity, Diabetes: Report

Ultra-processed and junk foods have always been a major culprit for various lifestyle-related health concerns, including diabetes and obesity. A recent report further states that even the advertisements of such foods may negatively impact our health. The report, '50 Shades of Food Advertising', released by the Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi), finds that high salt (HFSS) food products and ultra-processed foods (UPF) are misleading and can be "seductive, luring, manipulative or deceptive" for people.

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The report states that such "unhealthy" food products are being advertised to evoke "emotional feelings, manipulating the use of experts, appropriating benefits of real fruits, using celebrities to add value to the brand, projecting as healthy, etc".

As per an IANS report, these findings are made based on an observational study of the appeal in 50 advertisements of food products that have appeared in popular English and Hindi newspapers available in Delhi and also took note of some of the ads that appeared in TV commercials during cricket games or few on social media.

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NAPi convenor and paediatrician Arun Gupta, while presenting the report, appealed for an amendment in the existing regulations to put an end to these misleading food commercials. He also called for measures like "each advertisement to disclose in bold letters the amount of nutrient of concern per 100 gram/ml".

For the uninitiated, the 2024 dietary guidelines for Indians, released earlier this year by ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) states that more than 10 per cent of kids aged five to 10 years are suffering from prediabetes.