Nutritional quality and child-oriented marketing of breakfast cereals in Guatemala

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 39 - 44
• Main Authors: Soo, J, Letona, P, Chacon, V, Barnoya, J, Roberto, C A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.01.2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/699/1503/1702/393; 692/700/1720; 692/700/2814; 706/703; Adolescent; Breakfast - psychology; Breakfast cereals; Child; Child Behavior - psychology; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Child, Preschool; Content analysis; Edible Grain; Epidemiology; Food Industry; Food Labeling - legislation & jurisprudence; Food Labeling - methods; Guatemala - epidemiology; Health aspects; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Internal Medicine; Marketing - methods; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Nutritive Value; Obesity; original-article; Public Health; Supermarkets; Urban areas; Youth market; Guatemala
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2015.161

Objectives: Food marketing has been implicated as an important driver of obesity. However, few studies have examined food marketing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study documents the prevalence of advertising on cereal boxes in Guatemala and examines associations between various marketing strategies and nutritional quality. Methods: One box from all available cereals was purchased from a supermarket located in an urban area in Guatemala City, Guatemala. A content analysis was performed to document child-oriented marketing practices, product claims and health-evoking images. The Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) was used to calculate an overall nutrition score for each cereal (the higher the score, the lower the nutritional quality). Results: In all, 106 cereals were purchased, and half of the cereals featured child-oriented marketing (54, 50.9%). Cereals had a mean (±s.d.) of 5.10±2.83 product claims per cereal, and most cereals (102, 96.2%) contained health-evoking images. Child-oriented cereals had, on average, higher NPM scores (13.0±0.55 versus 7.90±0.74, P <0.001) and sugar content (10.1±0.48 versus 6.19±0.50 g/30 g, P <0.001) compared with non-child oriented cereals. Cereals with health claims were not significantly healthier than those without claims. Conclusions: In Guatemala, cereals targeting children were generally of poor nutritional quality. Cereals displaying health claims were also not healthier than those without such claims. Our findings support the need for regulations restricting the use of child-oriented marketing and health claims for certain products.