A table that defines the profile of foods and beverages with advertising aimed at children under the age of 16 was published on 21 August in Diário da República, in an order that comes into force within 60 days.

The nutritional profile follows the law passed in April, aimed at restricting certain advertising aimed at children.

"Probably the categories most affected (by the restrictions) are also the ones that advertise the most," said Maria João Gregório, director of the National Programme for the Promotion of Healthy Eating (PNPAS).

Within two months, products like chocolates or energy bars may have limited advertising if they had more than 40 kcal (kilocalories), or more than five grams of sugar or 1.5 grams of saturated fatty acids per 100 grams.

“These are the limit values ??defined for these categories, but these values ??differ between different categories of food products,” warns the DGS in a statement.

Within two months, products with what is considered too much sugar, salt or fat will have their advertising banned on children's or other generic programmes with an audience of over 25% of young people under 16, and also on other platforms, such as advertising on posters near schools or playgrounds, on the radios, in the movies, or even on the internet.

The list includes many more products than chocolates, cakes or soft drinks, nectars and fruit juices. There are also, for example, chocolate milk or flavoured milk, butter, cheese and bread, meat preparations and even preserves on the list.

“The law aims to limit the incentive to consume unhealthy foods. The truth is that scientific research says that advertising has an impact on children's food consumption, impacting their health status in childhood and later into adulthood” said the official to Lusa, stressing that changing behaviours can have a significant influence on health, something that WHO also considers very important.

“This can indeed be a very important measure. Portugal has had a concerted strategy in this area and the results are beginning to show, namely in reducing the excess weight in children” said Maria João Gregório, regretting that 30% of children in Portugal are still overweight.