The Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA) has warned that the obesity epidemic facing South African youth is likely to put them at risk of diseases such as hypertension, strokes, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
The organisation says easy access to junk food is one of the major contributors to obesity amongst young people.
The Policy and Programme Coordinator at the Healthy Living Alliance, Eunice Montso, says the marketing of junk food creates a high demand of the food intake.
She says they are calling for South Africa’s food industry to be regulated.
“What we are calling for is the food industry be regulated so that items like ultra processed food and junk food are neither readily accessible nor readily available; and to make healthy foods easier to access and more affordable for communities.
