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Children obesity is being aggravated by unscrupulous marketing online targeting children specifically and influencing them to eat unhealthy foods. The World Health Organization is raising an alarm and calling all nations to put into effect effective regulations to protect the children.

The WHO European regions recently published a report that looks into how much children participate in digital media, their level of engagement, and the marketing practices employed to influence children.

The agency discovered that marketing in digital media often offers unhealthy foods to children. These foods are high in fat, salty, and sweet. These are also cheaper and more convenient to obtain as compared to healthy choices.

As a result, children obesity is at a rise, alarming the WHO European regions. Digital marketing has greatly influenced children's eating habits, food choices and lifestyle according to the official website of WHO Europe. These influences bode ill when it comes to the children overall health and well-being.

Dr. Emma Boyland of the University Institute of Psychology, Health and Society believes that children have rights to participate in digital media and to privacy. These are essential rights that need to be covered by sound regulations.

More often, parents are not aware of the problem and do not have the time to closely observe the online activities of their children. They clearly have no idea just how much exposure their children get from obesogenic type of marketing as reported in Science Daily.

Hence, WHO recommends the following measures beginning with the acknowledgement of every nation regarding the obesogenic environment proliferating online. Digital marketing should be controlled and regulated by eliminating content that promotes foods that are high fat, salty and sweet.

The comprehensive report is entitled, "Tackling Food Marketing to Children in a Digital World: Trans-Disciplinary Perspectives." Boyland authored the report in collaboration with The Open University, WHO, University of Melbourne and Flinders University.