There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway.
A new report that looks at the prevalence of marketing to children inside grocery stores and restaurants suggests regulation is needed to help reduce unhealthy food temptations.
The report funded by Heart and Stroke audited displays at more than 2,000 restaurants and 800 stores across Canada and says children may be bombarded with messages that make junk food seem appealing.
Researchers found nearly 53 per cent of stores had "junk food power walls" at checkout aisles, which it says are prime areas to market to kids because products are placed within their reach.
The research said that placement encourages "pester power" -- when children nag or pester their parents to make impulse purchases.
"Parenting is hard enough without having to deal with environments that are explicitly designed to get our kids pestering us for junk food that's not supportive of their health," said Leia Minaker, the author of the report and an associate professor at the University of Waterloo.
"We're set up to fail by the stores and the restaurants that we go into," Minaker said.
"It's really hard to make healthy choices for your kids in this context."
Designs and themes such as "magic, adventure and zoo animals" are also commonly seen in beverage and ice cream fridges, Minaker said.
The report comes as Bill C-252 for "prohibition of food and beverage marketing directed at children" is under consideration by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.
"Given the high proportion of child-directed marketing observed in both stores and restaurants in this Canadian research, it's clear that policies aimed to restrict marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to kids -- something long promised by the federal government -- should include point-of-sale locations," said Doug Roth, CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation in a news release.
Stores can help by creating "healthy checkout policies," where checkout aisles wouldn't feature junk food and sugary drinks, the report said.
Prohibiting toy giveaways with unhealthy children's meals in restaurants could also help reduce consumption of unhealthy food, it said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2023.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway.
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife’s edge.
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
The owner of three Calgary dogs that got loose and mauled a woman to death in 2022 has been ordered to pay a $15,000 fine within one year and banned from owning any animal for 15 years.
Some Ontarians are expressing frustration after they said that they were removed from their family doctor’s patient list for visiting a walk-in clinic in a process being called “de-rostering.”
Residents in Ottawa’s Elmridge Gardens complex are dealing with a rat infestation that just won’t go away. Now, after doing everything they can to try to fix the issue, they are pleading with the city to step in and help.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.