Young teens need more cheese, please

The suggestion that cheese cannot be advertised on television during children’s viewing hours has sparked controversy.

It’s seen by many as taking the “nanny state” approach to tackling obesity a step too far.

But the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland believes most cheeses are too high in fat.

However, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has come up with a compromise.

It points out that calcium intakes are crucial for bone development in children during puberty (aged 9 to 18 years).

“However, research shows up to a third of this age group in Ireland has inadequate calcium intakes. During puberty children need at least five servings of dairy foods every day in order to meet calcium requirements.”

Its own research found children entering the pubertal growth spurt (9 to 13 years) have the greatest difficulty achieving an adequate calcium intake.

“This is because, compared with older, bigger teenagers, their capacity to consume large volumes of milk and yoghurt is limited by their small body size. Cheese can be invaluable in bridging the calcium-gap for this age group.”

It said ideally low-fat milk and yoghurt were the ‘best’ dairy foods to choose because they provide calcium without excessive amounts of saturated fat but certain types of cheese can also form part of a healthy diet.

Its solution is to allow calcium-rich cheeses that are lower in fat /salt to be advertised during children’s programmes but these would not include all cheeses.

So which cheeses should be allowed to be advertised? The watchdog’s list includes:

low-fat cheddar; cheese strings; brie; light cheese triangles. Cheeses which would not be included are: cheese slices; edam; feta; gouda; cheddar; parmesan

There would be an incentive on the makers of cheeses to reformulate their products by lowering fat and salt content if they knew they would be allowed adverterising time during children’s programmes.

The Broadcasting Authority’s draft code suggesting the ban is open for submissions until the end of this month.

Originally published in
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