Differences in children's exposure to television advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages in Spain by socio-economic level.

BACKGROUND: The influence of food advertising on food preferences and consumption could also contribute to the socio-economic inequalities among Spanish children in terms of eating habits and childhood obesity. Although the main food advertising channel targeted at children in Spain is television, available studies estimate exposure indirectly by combining content data with audience data. The aim of this study was therefore to describe the frequency of exposure to television advertising of unhealthy foods and drinks, measured directly, among Spanish children and adolescents, and analyse its socio-economic inequalities. METHODS: Observational study of television advertising impacts in a sample of 1590 children aged 4 to 16 years drawn from a consumer panel representative of the Spanish population in this age group, over the course of a full week of broadcasting in February 2022. The sample was obtained through stratified random sampling by Autonomous Region, with quotas being set by reference to socio-demographic variables. Exposure was measured with an audiometer, and the nutrient content of the food and drink advertised was analysed using the nutrient profile of the WHO Regional Office for Europe. We used the Chi-squared test to analyse possible differences in advertising coverage by socio-economic level. RESULTS: The participants saw a weekly mean of 82.4 food and drink commercials, 67.4 of which were for unhealthy products (81.8%), mostly outside the child-protection time slot. On average, low-social class participants received 94.4% more impacts from unhealthy food and drink advertising than did high-class participants (99.9 vs. 51.4 respectively). The mean advertising coverage of unhealthy foods and drinks was 71.6% higher in low-class than in high-class participants (10.9% vs. 18.7%; p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Spanish children and adolescents received an average of 10 impacts per day from television spots for unhealthy foods and drinks. The exposure of low-class children is double that of high-class children, a finding compatible with the high prevalence of childhood obesity in Spain and the related socio-economic inequalities. To protect Spanish minors from the harmful effects of food advertising and reduce the related social health inequalities would require the implementation of a 24:00 watershed for unhealthy food advertising on television.

Advertising of foods and beverages in social media aimed at children: high exposure and low control.

BACKGROUND: This work is aimed to describe the recent scientific literature developed in the food/beverage sector and social networks aimed at children and adolescents, as well as current regulations. METHODS: A rapid review of the studies on advertising and social media aimed at children, published from 2010 tp 2020 is carried out, following the established inclusion criteria. In addition, the regulations in the countries in which the studies were carried out were also reviewed. RESULTS: Of the 573 articles, 7 met these criteria. The great attraction of unhealthy foods for children is observed, who remembered and recognized a greater number of unhealthy food brands and, by extension, the ability to influence of communication in social networks. Each country has its own self-regulation, two (Ireland and USA) have legislation on children's food advertising, and Australia has legislation that applies only to open television. However, none of the analyzed countries have specific regulations on food, children and media advertising. CONCLUSIONS: Given the fact that there is evidence about the great attraction that social networks suppose for the child, that they are a stimulus for the consumption of food and that many of these foods are harmful to their health; we should work in two directions: 1) Promote public policies based on promoting healthy habits among minors; and 2) Monitor and implement regulations in commercial communication social media.

Cuerpo extraño como causa de apendicitis aguda complicada / Foreign body as a cause of complicated acute appendicitis

La apendicitis aguda es una de las patologías más comunes en el ámbito hospitalario. Las formas complicadas pueden ser causadas por objetos puntigudos, afilados, delgados o alargados, ingeridos de forma accidental, y representan una causa inusual con una prevalencia del 0,0005 %

Acute appendicitis is one of the most common pathologies in the hospital setting. The complicated forms can be caused by pointed, sharp, thin or elongated objects, accidentally ingested, and represent an unusual cause with a prevalence of 0.0005%.

Caffeine Health Claims on Sports Supplement Labeling. Analytical Assessment According to EFSA Scientific Opinion and International Evidence and Criteria.

Caffeine is a food supplement widely consumed by athletes, but it has not been established. So far, the veracity of their labeling in terms of the dosage and cause/effect relationship aimed at the consumer. The aim is to analyze the health claims and the dosage presented on the labeling of caffeine supplements and to evaluate if they follow the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and international criteria. A descriptive cross-sectional study of a sample of caffeine supplements was carried out. The search was done through the Amazon and Google Shopping web portals. In order to assess the adequacy of the health claims, the guidelines of reference established by European Food Safety Authority were compared to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, International Olympic Committee, and Australian Institute of Sport guidelines; in addition, recent systematic reviews were addressed. A review of labels of 42 caffeine supplements showed that, in less than 3% of the products were the health claims supported by the recommendations and by the labeled quantity of caffeine. The claims that fully complied the recommendations were, "improves or increases endurance performance", "improves strength performance", or "improves short-term performance". In most cases, the recommended dosage was 200 mg/day for these products, which is the minimum for the caffeine effects to be declared. The rest of the health claims were not adequate or need to be modified. Most of the health claims identified indicated an unproven cause and effect, which constitutes consumer fraud, and so must be modified or eliminated.

Analysis of health claims regarding creatine monohydrate present in commercial communications for a sample of European sports foods supplements.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the information on health claims present in the labelling of creatine monohydrate (CM) products. DESIGN: A descriptive study of a selection of products marketed as CM, with health claims, and that met the inclusion/exclusion criteria, was conducted using the Amazon and Google Shopping websites. The adequacy and compliance of the health claims were evaluated with the European legislative requirements (European Food Safety Authority and European Commission). The results were discussed with scientific evidence criteria from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, International Olympic Committee, and International Society of Sports Nutrition, as well as the systematic review carried out by Mielgo-Ayuso in 2019. SETTING: Health claims in the commercial communications of a sample of CM supplements, in relation to current legislation and scientific knowledge. PARTICIPANT: A total of 554 CM products were obtained. RESULTS: Of the total sample, only 167 met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Of these, 30·5 % recommended a CM dose of 5·0-5·9 g/d, while 29·9 % recommended 3·0 to 3·9 g/d. As for the health claims, 'Enhances physical performance' appeared in 73·1 % of the supplements, in most cases referring to a dosage of 3·0 to 3·9 g/d for these products. The rest of the declarations were not adequate or needed to be modified. CONCLUSION: Only 25 % of the health claims complied with the criteria established by the scientific reference documents. Most of the declarations must be modified or eliminated, as they could be considered fraudulent and/or misleading for the consumer.

Hernia de Amyand tipo 2: apendicectomía y hernioplastia con malla de baja densidad / Amyand's hernia type 2: appendectomy and hernioplasty withlow density mesh

La incidencia de las hernias inguinales en Colombia es de aproximadamente 15 por cada 1000 habitantes, y el riesgo de presentar una hernia inguinal durante la vida es del 27 % en hombres y del 3 % en mujeres. Existen presentaciones poco frecuentes como la hernia de Amyand que consiste en la protrusión del apéndice cecal, inflamada o no, dentro del contenido del saco herniario. A nivel global, tiene una incidencia del 0,13 % al 1 % y su tratamiento se realiza basándose en la clasificación de Losanoff y Basson. Sin embargo, una de las controversias aún existentes respecto al manejo quirúrgico, es la indicación del uso o no de mallas al momento de realizar la hernioplastia y el resultado final del mismo, así que este es el punto donde se centra la revisión de nuestro artículo. Se presenta el caso de un paciente de 79 años con una hernia de Amyand tipo 2, a quien se le practicó hernioplastia con malla de baja densidad absorbible, con adecuada evolución posquirúrgica

The incidence of inguinal hernias in Colombia is approximately 15 per 1000 inhabitants, and the risk of presenting an inguinal hernia during life is 27% in men and 3% in women. There are rare presentations such as Amyand's hernia, which consists of the protrusion of the cecal appendix, inflamed or not, within the content of the hernial sac. At a global level, it has an incidence of 0.13% to 1% and its treatment is based on the Losanoff and Basson classification. However, one of the still existing controversies regarding surgical management is the indication of the use or not of meshes at the time of performing the hernioplasty, and the final result of it, this is the point where the review of our article focuses. We present the case of a 79-year-old patient with a type 2 Amyand hernia who underwent hernioplasty with a low-density absorbable mesh, with adequate postoperative evolution

How Is Functional Food Advertising Understood? An Approximation in University Students.

In functional food advertising, messages are not always easily understandable for the target audience. Current European legislation, enforced through Regulation 1924/2006, specifies that such messages should be clear and precise so as not to mislead the consumer. The objective of this study was to observe consumers' understanding of messages in functional food advertisements. The methodology used was a self-administered survey filled out by 191 students enrolled in a Degree in Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Alicante (Spain). The results suggest that a large number of students do not know what functional food is and obtain information about these products mainly from labelling/packaging. The major means of communication through which they learn about health benefits via advertising is the internet, followed by television. Most respondents indicated that they understood related advertisements and found it helpful to be given additional information on health benefits. Worthy of note, the greater their level of understanding of the messages, the higher their level of distrust of advertising messages, which they considered to be deceptive or misleading.

Scientific Evidence on Functional Food and Its Commercial Communication: A Review of Legislation in Europe and the USA.

This study aims at understanding how scientific evidence to substantiate nutrition and health claims in food commercial communication is regulated in Europe and the USA. A literature review was performed on the scientific evidence required by the European Food Safety Authority and the US Food and Drug Administration to substantiate food nutrition and health claims. Studies published in Scopus, Medline, Scirus, and Google Scholar from 2007 to 2012 were reviewed as well as documents released by both agencies. A total of 38 documents met our inclusion criteria out of 743 documents initially identified during our search. These agencies provide general guidelines on how to conduct food and health studies, intended to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between a given food and a benefit to health. Despite this, they need to broaden the depth and scope of the guidelines provided to companies seeking to substantiate their claims and to provide further and more precise information concerning the evaluation of studies and application processes. No review has hitherto specifically focused on the subject of scientific evidence required by EU and US food agencies to substantiate health claims. This research thus leads to significant recommendations on how to improve current food industry guides.

Does the scientific evidence support the advertising claims made for products containing Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium lactis? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: To analyse the scientific evidence that exists for the advertising claims made for two products containing Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium lactis and to conduct a comparison between the published literature and what is presented in the corporate website. METHODS: Systematic review, using Medline through Pubmed and Embase. We included human clinical trials that exclusively measured the effect of Lactobacillus casei or Bifidobacterium lactis on a healthy population, and where the objective was related to the health claims made for certain products in advertising. We assessed the levels of evidence and the strength of the recommendation according to the classification criteria established by the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM). We also assessed the outcomes of the studies published on the website that did not appear in the search. RESULTS: Of the 440 articles identified, 16 met the inclusion criteria. Only four (25%) of these presented a level of evidence of 1b and a recommendation grade of A, all corresponding to studies on product containing Bifidobacterium lactis, and only 12 of the 16 studies were published on the corporate website (47). CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient scientific evidence to support the health claims made for these products, especially in the case of product containing Lactobacillus casei.

Los funcionales a examen: ¿alimentos al servicio de la salud o nuevo negocio para la industria alimentaria? / Functional foods: For the health service or new business for the food industry?

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