Rudd Center Releases Report on Marketing Beverages to Children

The University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity has released a report on the state of nutrition and marketing for beverages targeted to children. The researchers identified “common practices that may confuse parents about the ingredients and healthfulness of sweetened children’s drinks,” including the “widespread use of low-calorie sweeteners,” the “sugar content and calories” and the serving sizes of “100% juice products” that “contained more than the recommended maximum daily amount of juice for toddlers.” The report recommends that “manufacturers should develop and market unsweetened plain waters for children,” that media companies with children’s programming “should implement nutrition standards that comply with expert recommendations that can be advertised to children in their media” and that retailers should “clearly label children’s drinks that contain added sweeteners.”