NUTRITIONAL CONTENT OF FOOD, AND NONALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ADVERTISEMENTS BROADCASTED IN CHILDREN'S SLOT OF COLOMBIAN NATIONAL TELEVISION

Objective: To describe the nutritional content of foods and non-alcoholic beverages advertised in the children's frame vs. the general frame in two national, private, free-access, television channels in Colombia. Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive study. The recording was performed in July of 2012, for four days randomly chosen from 6:00 am to 12:30 pm. The nutritional content was classified according to the nutritional profiles criteria of the Food Standards Agency for risk-indicating nutrients, the Health Pan-American Organization for trans fat, and the 333 Colombian Resolution of 2011 that classifies foods as source of protecting nutrients. Descriptive statistics were used, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to establish the normality, and the Chi square test for variables comparison. A p value < 0.05 was considered. Results: During 52 hours of recording, 1560 commercials were shown, of which 23.3% (364), advertised foods and beverages, of which 56.3% were shown within the children's frame. Regarding the nutritional content, a high percentage of foods and non-alcoholic beverages classified as "rich" in sugar, sodium, saturated fat was observed within the children's' frame (69.0%, 56.0%, 57.1%), as compared to the general frame. By contrast, the percentage of foods and nonalcoholic beverages classified as "rich" in total fat was higher in the general frame as compared to the children's frame (70.4% vs. 29.6%, respectively). Conclusions: Higher exposure to advertising of foods and non-alcoholic beverages was observed within the children's' frame, characterized by high content of risk-indicating nutrients and low content of foods and non-alcoholic beverages with protective nutrients.