Marketing that encourages children to consume unhealthy food and drink must be a central target in the national response to rising childhood obesity, a prevention campaigner has said.

Speaking during the IN FOCUS online programme on the impact of food marketing on children, Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition programme manager Francine Charles said consumers were not always making independent choices but were influenced by sophisticated advertising designed to create demand for particular products.

Deputy Nutrition Officer at the Ministry of Health’s National Nutrition Centre Brian Payne