Toddler milk advert banned over claims about iron deficiency

An advertisement for toddler formula milk has been banned for falsely claiming that most young children do not get enough iron, a watchdog said yesterday.

The TV campaign for Cow & Gate Complete Care Growing Up Milk said: "Did you know eight out of 10 toddlers aren't getting enough iron?"

The advert showed a woman giving her child a giant 12-litre cup of milk before the voice-over continued: "It's not surprising – meeting 50 per cent of their needs would mean drinking 12 litres of cow's milk per day...or just two beakers of Cow & Gate Complete Care Growing Up Milk, as part of a varied diet helping to support brain development, strong bones and teeth, healthy growth."

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Three people challenged the claim that "eight out of 10 toddlers aren't getting enough iron".

Nutricia, another company within Cow & Gate parent group Danone, which supplied the iron deficiency figures, said a 2009 study examined the nutritional values of the diets of 185 toddlers over a four-day period and believed it showed the subjects were not meeting the recommended nutrient intake (RNI) for iron. The findings were in line with a similar study in 1995, the company added.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said most viewers would interpret the ad to mean that their child was deficient in iron if they received less than 6.9mg a day. However it said there was no recommended daily allowance (RDA) of iron for toddlers and that, for food labelling purposes, the value of iron recommended for children between the ages of one and three years was set at 6mg.

n Tesco has won the latest advertising battle with rival Asda over a campaign claiming the lowest grocery prices.

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Tesco complained that an Asda national press advert was unclear as to whether it compared "Asda's prices with Asda's own prices in a previous week or those of a competitor".

The ASA ruled that the advert must not appear again in its current form.

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