title: Food and beverage advertising on children's TV channels in Argentina: Frequency, duration, and nutritional quality.
abstract: Food and beverage marketing has been identified as one of the determinants of unhealthy food and beverage consumption in the child population.
  
  
  
  To determine the frequency and duration of food and beverage advertising in children's programming and the nutritional quality of advertised food and beverages.
  
  
  
  Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Children's cable and broadcast channel programming was recorded in two periods: over the week and on the weekend. The type, quantity, and duration of commercials were recorded. The nutritional quality of advertised food and beverages was analyzed.
  
  
  
  A total of 402.3 hours of children's programming were recorded. In total, 3711 commercials were identified. Among these, 20.9% corresponded to food and beverages, i.e., an average of 1.9 ± 1.0 commercials per hour or equivalent to 0.68 ± 0.36 min/hour. Dairy products, candies, and fast-food meals were the most advertised food products. Only a third of advertised food and beverages (35.8%) were categorized as healthy as per the nutrient profiling system. Based on the traffic light labeling system, 50% of advertised food and beverages were high in sugar, 25% were high in saturated fat, and approximately 15% were high in sodium or fat.
  
  
  
  Food and beverage advertising accounted for 20% of television advertising time. The most advertised products were dairy products, followed by candies and sweet snacks, fast-food meals, and beverages. Two-thirds of advertised food and beverages were considered unhealthy.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudios sobre Nutrición Infantil, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rovirosa
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Química, Universidad de Centro Educativo Latinoamericano, Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina.
authors.forename: María E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Zapata
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad de Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Nutricionales, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gotthelf
authors.affiliation: Ministerio de Salud, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ferrante
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001118:Argentina; D001628:Beverages; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D009753:Nutritive Value; D013690:Television; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: beverages; child; food publicity; food quality; television