Marketing and consumption of commercial foods fed to young children in low and middle‐income countries

In this supplement issue of Maternal & Child Nutrition, Helen Keller International (HKI) authors have written 9 peer reviewed articles (and one editorial) based on the second phase of the ARCH Project in Cambodia, Nepal, Senegal and Indonesia. Great set of articles that focus on the consumption of commercial foods among infants and young children, and look at a range of issues, from urban from food environments to food marketing to compliance with codes of conduct:

• Marketing and infant and young child feeding in rapidly evolving food environments
• Prevalence, duration, and content of television advertisements for breast milk substitutes and commercially produced complementary foods in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Dakar, Senegal
• Predictors of breast milk substitute feeding among newborns in delivery facilities in urban Cambodia and Nepal
• Pilot implementation of a monitoring and enforcement system for the International Code of Marketing of Breast‐milk Substitutes in Cambodia
• Promotions of breast milk substitutes, commercial complementary foods and commercial snack products commonly fed to young children are frequently found in points‐of‐sale in Bandung City, Indonesia
• Commercially produced complementary foods in Bandung City,Indonesia, are often reported to be iron fortified but with less than recommended amounts or sub optimal forms of iron
• Snack food and beverage consumption and young child nutrition in low‐and middle‐income countries: A systematic review
• High proportions of children under 3 years of age consume commercially produced snack foods and sugar‐sweetened beverages in Bandung City, Indonesia
• Energy intake from unhealthy snack food/beverage among 12‐23‐month‐old children in urban Nepal
• Perceptions of commercial snack food and beverages for infant and young child feeding: A mixed‐methods study among caregivers in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal