Children and adolescents: primary targets for ultra-processed foods
At the end of 2025, UNICEF once again highlighted the impact of ultra-processed foods on the health and weight of children and adolescents around the world. Countries, regions and associations are attempting to mobilise to confront the industrial lobby behind such products.
According to UNICEF’s Rights of the Child, every young person has the right to healthcare, access to a balanced diet food, and must be supported in these two fundamental principles by the government of his or her country. But the figures speak for themselves: in 2025, the UNICEF report expressed clearly how food environments are failing children, with the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods affecting all ages and all social and economic backgrounds. For the first time since figures have been recorded, more children between the ages of 5 and 19 are facing obesity rather than undernourishment.
In December, UNICEF published a Full Report on children and ultra-processed foods, highlighting not only the harmful impact of these products on health, but also the omnipresence of such foodstuffs and the role of governments in monitoring and legislation to address this issue.
According to UNICEF, while parental education is important, the problem of ultra-processed foods is due above all on the strategy of the manufacturers, who expose both adults and children to powerful marketing messages. This strategy has been compared to the one used by the tobacco industry at the end of the 20th Century. Around the world, several entities have mobilized to confront large groups. In San Francisco, the city has decided to file a complaint against ten food groups, criticising the omnipresence of their products, which represent 70% of the references sold in supermarket. making it difficult for consumers – including children and teenagers – to make an informed choice.
The phenomenon is gaining in magnitude, targeting even the youngest palates. The growing baby food market underlines the impact of an industrial lobby that seeks to attract future consumers from an early age in order to create an appetite for industrial products, via snacks or appetizers presented as balanced alternatives.This can be seen as a means of grooming future clients, as children and teenagers become accustomed to the tastes and textures of industrial products.
But governments are reacting:
- in the United Kingdom, an “Anti-junk food” law was introduced at the beginning of January to limit the broadcasting of advertisements for less healthy foods, which are now banned on television before 9 p.m., and continuously on the Internet and social networks. This measure is a reaction to a concerning situation: The Guardian highlights the impact of relentless marketing on a young population with one of the highest obesity rates in Europe.
- In Thailand, where the rate of childhood obesity has doubled in 20 years, the government initiated in earl 2026 the KIN-D initiative to promote education around healthy eating, including business environments that promote balanced choices.
This positive trend around education and support is also evident in the approach of many NGOs, including those supported by BNP Paribas Cardif through the My Food My Future initiative.