Food for Health Alliance

Looking for evidence on obesity trends, impacts, prevention, environmental influences & treatment in Australia? Check out the Obesity Evidence Hub: www.obesityevidencehub.org.au

New research has shown that placing sugar warning labels on sugary drinks would significantly change adolescents’ behaviour - leading many to avoid buying or drinking them altogether.

Sugary drinks are the biggest source of added sugar in Australian’s diets, so reducing sugary drinks consumption is a clear place for governments to focus if they want to support Australian’s health.

Yet currently Australia is falling behind the dozens of countries who have adopted front-of-pack sugar labels on their products. And with our national regulator deciding just this year to shelve work on mandating added sugar labelling in Australia, we risk getting left further behind, at the expense of our community’s health.

It’s imperative that work to inform consumers about added sugar labelling stays on the agenda.

Read our media release to find out more: https://www.foodforhealthalliance.org.au/media-news/media-release/2026/new-research-shows-added-sugar-labels-would-prompt-teens-to-dump-sugary-drinks.html

On budget night the Australian Government released its response to the to the Federal Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes.

Disappointingly, their response failed to action the strong, evidence-based policies to prevent type 2 diabetes, that were recommended in the report, including:

- A levy on sugary drinks to encourage manufacturers to reduce sugar in their drinks
- Regulating unhealthy food marketing to protect children on TV, online and gaming
- Improved food labelling targeting added sugar

The government has ‘noted’ these recommendations, but has not accepted them, despite them having significant support from public health experts and the Australian community.

This was a missed opportunity from government to prevent chronic diseases linked to poor diet and obesity – covering not just type 2 diabetes but heart disease, cancer, stroke and dementia.

With millions of Australians suffering from serious health issues caused by unhealthy food environments government leadership is urgently needed to help make it easier for Australians to eat nutritious diets.

The Food for Health Alliance urges government to take strong action to prevent chronic disease and protect Australians health now and into the future.

Read out media release to find out more: https://www.foodforhealthalliance.org.au/media-news/media-release/2026/government-neglect-of-diabetes-prevention-policies-a-blow-to-australian-s-health.html

The Food for Health Alliance welcomes the government’s release today of the final report of the feasibility study on policy options to implement restrictions to protect children from unhealthy food marketing.

The independent expert report found that a wide range of policy options were feasible, including restrictions on unhealthy food marketing on TV and online, as well as in retail environments, outdoor advertising, unhealthy food sponsorships and product packaging.

Unhealthy food marketing has a powerful influence on children, shaping what they eat, what they ask for, and how they spend their pocket money.

With big profits to be made from pushing unhealthy products to kids, this isn’t an issue that will go away on its own. As the report highlights, self-regulation doesn't effectively reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing. It's the responsibility of government to step in with strong controls to protect our children’s health.

With the report confirming that strong action is feasible, we urge governments to take a comprehensive approach to tackling the powerful influence that unhealthy food marketing has on children’s diets and health.

Read our media release to find out more: https://bit.ly/4nhEDt7

Have you visited the Obesity Evidence Hub? It's a great resource for finding key evidence on obesity trends, impacts, prevention, environmental factors and treatment in Australia.

Find out more: https://www.obesityevidencehub.org.au/

Using beloved children's characters like Bluey or Paw Patrol is another sneaky tactic used by the food industry to make unhealthy products more appealing to our children.

And it's effective. Research has shown that including cartoon characters on product packaging influences young children's preferences, making them want these products more.

While this marketing boosts corporate profits, it undermines our children's nutrition and their future health.

We need government to set higher standards to stop the processed food industry from using these marketing tactics.

Check out our website to find out more - link in comments.

Research has shown that exposure to food marketing effects young children's preference, requests and consumption of unhealthy foods.

Older children (who may make their own purchasing decisions) are also influenced by unhealthy food marketing through positive brand attitudes, and increased purchase and consumption of unhealthy foods.

Head to the Obesity Evidence Hub to find out more about the impact of unhealthy food marketing on children.

https://www.obesityevidencehub.org.au/collections/prevention/the-impact-of-food-marketing-on-children

Australian families have a right to expect that foods for babies and toddlers are marketed responsibly. But often there is a large gap between the marketing promises and the reality of these products.

The marketing you see on food packaging is a sophisticated tool that is highly persuasive; crafted in ways to appeal to families' desires to provide healthy and nutritious food for their children.

Food companies use marketing that gives their products a “health halo” by including images of fresh fruit and veggies, or claims like 'made with real fruit' to make them sound healthier and more nutritious than they really are.

Right now, there aren't laws in place to stop companies from these misleading marketing tactics. But with your help we can change this.

Comment 'take action' below and we'll send you a link to our petition calling for governments to introduce comprehensive legislation on baby and toddler foods, so that Aussie children have the best start in life.

Everyday we're bombarded with ads for harmful products from the unhealthy food, alcohol and gambling industries.

It’s time for the Federal Government to shield our community from this marketing.

We need a law that sets clear rules about how gambling, alcohol and unhealthy food companies can advertise.

We know the community wants to see this change. The government has an important opportunity now
to set the stage for a better, healthier future.

Food for Health Alliance are proud to be a partner of the Give Us An Ad Break campaign, launched today.

Together we can make a future where people are free to go about their lives without being targeted with harmful product marketing.

Find out more and show your support: https://giveusanadbreak.org.au/

Looking for evidence on obesity trends, impacts, prevention, environmental influences & treatment in Australia? Check out the Obesity Evidence Hub: https://www.obesityevidencehub.org.au/