LAUSR

OBJECTIVE To compare the frequency and healthfulness of foods being advertised to children and adolescents in four countries of World Health Organization (WHO) European region. DESIGN Cross-sectional quantitative study, guided by an adapted version of the WHO protocol. All recorded food advertisements were categorized by categories and as either "permitted" or "not permitted" for advertising to children in accordance with WHO Regional Office for Europe Nutrient Profile Model (NPM). SETTINGS Four countries: Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. PARTICIPANTS TV channels most popular among children and adolescents. RESULTS Analysis included 70 days of TV broadcasting for all channels, during which time there were 28,399 advertisements. The mean number of advertisements per hour varied from 11 in Turkey and Kazakhstan to 8 and 2 in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. In all countries the majority of the food and beverages advertised should not be permitted for advertising to children according to the WHO NPM. The mean number of non-permitted food and beverage advertisements per hour was high in Turkey and Kazakhstan (8.8 and 8.5 ads) compared with Russia (5.1) and Kyrgyzstan (1.9). Turkey was the only country where nutritional information was fully available and no values were missing that prevented coding for some product categories. CONCLUSIONS Results revealed that children and adolescent of four countries are exposed to a considerable volume of food and beverage advertisements, including sugary products on broadcast television. As such, policymakers should consider protecting youth by developing regulations to restrict these marketing activities within media popular with children.