The UK government is set to prohibit daytime television advertisements for sugary foods such as granola, muffins, and other items classified as junk food, according to media. The regulations, designed to tackle childhood obesity, are slated to be implemented in October 2025.
Foods categorized as “less healthy” under these rules include fast food, soft drinks, ready meals, pastries, cereal bars, and sweetened yoghurts. This decision follows a National Health Service (NHS) report revealing concerning trends in childhood obesity. Nearly 9.2% of reception-aged children are classified as obese, while 23.7% of five-year-olds experience tooth decay linked to excessive sugar consumption, as per NHS data.
Media quoted Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who described the policy as “a crucial first step towards shifting healthcare from treating sickness to preventing it, aligning with the government’s goal to ensure every child has a healthy, happy start in life.”
The list of foods deemed “less healthy” and subject to the advertisement ban has been expanded to encompass a wide range of items high in sugar, fat, and salt. This includes breakfast staples such as croissants, pancakes, waffles, and sugary cereals like granola, muesli, and instant porridge. Other restricted items include sweetened yoghurts, fizzy drinks, certain fruit juices, energy drinks, and snacks like lentil crisps, seaweed-based products, and Bombay mix. Traditional fast food items such as hamburgers and chicken nuggets are also included. However, healthier options like natural porridge oats and unsweetened yoghurts are excluded from the ban.
The government anticipates that these measures will prevent around 20,000 cases of childhood obesity each year. Health Secretary Wes Streeting emphasized the initiative’s importance, stating, “Obesity deprives children of a strong start in life, leads to lifelong health challenges, and burdens the NHS with significant costs. We are acting now to end the targeting of junk food ads at children, both on TV and online.”
The media report noted that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson originally proposed restrictions on pre-9:00 PM advertisements for foods high in sugar, salt, and fat in 2021. However, the implementation was delayed to 2025 to allow the food and beverage industry time to adapt amid the cost-of-living crisis.
The government estimates that the policy could remove 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets annually, contributing substantially to efforts to reduce childhood obesity in the UK.
