Nutrient Composition of Foods Marketed to Children or Adolescents Sold in the Spanish Market: Are They Any Better?

Healthy eating is essential for the growth and development of children and adolescents. Eating habits established in childhood continue into adulthood. In Spain, the frequent promotion of foods with low nutritional value is already considered a threat to the health of the population, particularly to children and adolescents. In this work, we analyse 3209 foods from the Food Database, BADALI. Foods were classified as marketed to children or adolescents according to the advertising on the packaging, television or internet. We found that 17.5% of foods in the database were marketed to this population and 97% of those were considered unhealthy following the Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Profile Model (PAHO-NPM). In the total of foods for children or adolescents, 61.5% were high in fat, 58.5% in free-sugar, 45.4% in saturated fat and 45% in sodium. Foods marketed to them presented higher amounts of carbohydrates and sugar, while lower protein and fibre content than the rest. There was also considerable variability in levels of the other nutrients found in these products, which depended largely on the food group. According to our findings, there is a tendency for products marketed to children or adolescents to be unhealthy and of a poorer nutritional quality than those not targeted at them.